A Christmas to Remember
by chicabonita51983
Summary: One Christmas, Alice and Rosalie invite Bella to join them and their boyfriends on a vacation at Lake Tahoe. Little does Bella know that Emmett and Jasper have cajoled Edward into going along as well. Will it be a Christmas to Remember or a Christmas th
1. Chapter 1: A Tahoe Ski Chalet

_**a/n: This story idea came to me while listening to the song of the same title by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.**_

_***waits for laughter to stop***_

_**Anyway, I know Christmas is passed, but I hope people will enjoy it anyway....**_

**Chapter One – A Tahoe Ski Chalet**

"I don't even know how you talked me into this," Bella complained as she dragged her luggage out to the taxi. "I'm spending Christmas being the fifth wheel."

"Well, it's better than spending Christmas alone," Alice retorted. "We promised we wouldn't ignore you. It'll just be five friends hanging out enjoying the Christmas break."

"And watching me fall on my ass when I try to ski," Bella rolled her eyes.

"You don't have to ski, you know," Rosalie pointed out. "There are plenty of other things to do at the lodge."

"Yeah. Alone. While you two are out enjoying your time with your boyfriends."

Rosalie snapped, "You know what, Bella? We didn't exactly tie you up and drag you here. So suck it up, or we really will ignore you."

Bella let out a huff and pouted.

"Bella," Alice touched her arm. "We invited you with us because we wanted you with us. We never intended to make you miserable."

The single friend let out a sigh and said, "You're right. I'm sorry. It's just, I get lonely around Christmas."

Alice gave a small smile and winked, "Maybe you will find someone. This could be your year."

"Maybe," Bella agreed, but truly doubted it.

The three friends couldn't look any different from each other. Rosalie was the most beautiful by convention. She was tall with blonde hair that reached just below her shoulders. Her face was flawless, and her body could be that of a supermodel.

Where Rosalie was tall, Alice was short. Barely making five foot, her personality made up for what her height lacked. She was always bubbly and optimistic, and those around her could not help but be happy around her. Her black hair was cut short and curled out around her head. Her face was pixie-like to match the rest of her body.

Bella was of average height with long brown hair that reached the middle of her back. With a heart-shaped face and a body that was anything but curvy, Bella always thought of herself as ordinary. Those who knew her, though, were often enchanted with her dark brown eyes that held so much depth and emotion and added a sense of beauty to her physical appearance.

What also made her somewhat intriguing was her lack of coordination. None of her friends and family could understand how a grown woman could trip over nothing in a pair of sneakers. Wherever she walked, she was bound to stumble.

Although not blood related in any way, the three girls might have well been sisters. The parents of all three girls had been friends since long before they were born. It was a strange coincidence that the girls were born within a year of each other, and thus thrown together all through their childhood. The friendship that resembled sisterhood quickly grew between them and became stronger as they matured.

This Christmas was the first Christmas all three had been out of college. Coincidentally, all three set of parents decided they were going to take the Christmas holiday away from the cold in the tropics… without the kids. In one manner, it was a way to let the three young women have their first taste of true independence. They were able to choose how they spent their holiday without worrying about family or other obligations.

So along with Rosalie's and Alice's boyfriends, Emmett and Jasper respectively, the three young ladies decided to take a ski trip to Lake Tahoe. All three women knew how to ski; _knew_ being the operative word. Rosalie and Alice, ever the most graceful, took to the slopes as naturals. Bella, on the other hand, always found herself back in lessons just to teach her how to stand in the skis.

As the girls took in the view from the taxi, their moods shifted. Even Bella, who was dreading the vacation in fear of being the "fifth wheel," realized that she was glad to come to the beautiful Tahoe region. The beauty of the snow-covered mountains did not escape her notice, and she even thought that if she were alone, as long as she had a good book, a mug of rich hot chocolate, and a view of the slopes, she would be very happy indeed.

"Why did I let you guys talk me into this again?" the bronze-haired man asked his friends as they walked into the lodge. "What am I going to do when you two are gallivanting with your girlfriends?"

"Eddie," the large man with cropped curly hair slapped the first on his back. "Relax! We're all here together. We wouldn't leave you hanging. Unless, of course, you found a babe and decided you want to be left alone," he winked.

The third man, a tall, lean but muscular blond, rolled his eyes. "Only you would turn everything back to sex, Emmett."

"Hey! Sex is a natural, beautiful thing, Jasper. You need to _embrace _it."

The three men standing in the lobby were certainly a sight for sore eyes. All three were over six feet tall, with Emmett standing even several inches over the other two. He was as wide as he was tall, made of what seemed to be only muscle. Despite his tough appearance, people soon realized that he was nothing but a big teddy bear.

Jasper was Emmett's friend since college. He was almost as tall as Emmett, but much more lean. His curly blond hair was hidden underneath a baseball cap as he waited patiently to check in. He was the even-tempered man of the group, who had a talent to perceive emotions around him and put everybody else at ease.

Edward was just about Jasper's height and stature, but his bronze hair stood out in all directions as if he never stopped running his fingers through his hair. He was the brooding one of the group. He always seemed serious and Jasper and Emmett swore they hadn't seen him smile since high school. Thus, Emmett's jokes about Edward finding a woman to have sex with came in a constant stream.

"Eddie here needs to get laid," Emmett continued. "Maybe he would actually become fun again."

"I'm plenty fun," Edward grumbled.

Edward wasn't always so moody. As a teenager, he was happy and laid back, but in college, both his parents died in a tragic train accident. Since then, his whole demeanor changed. Long gone were the carefree days when he would smile at the drop of a hat and spend all weekend with Emmett and Jasper playing sports and video games and just acting like the typical young adult male. After the deaths of his parents, he chose instead to bury his nose in his textbooks, a chore that has paid off well in terms of his G.P.A., but has taken a toll on his life.

Emmett was not being insensitive towards Edward; in fact, they were cousins, so he himself lost an aunt and uncle was close to. But in Emmett's opinion, five years was enough time to mourn. He spent much time trying to persuade Edward that his parents would want him to enjoy life. His cousin always retorted that his parents would also want him to become a successful doctor.

Touché.

All three men were friends since high school, but whereas Emmett and Jasper chose to stay in the state of Washington as a mechanic and a paper science engineer, Edward packed himself off to Northwestern University to pursue his goal of being a surgeon, just like his father. This was the first time in several years that the men had actually planned on an extended period of time to spend together without the constraints of work or school interfering with their lives. Edward would have been more enthusiastic if he didn't suspect that his two best friends would be spending most of their time locked away in their rooms with their girlfriends. Considering that Emmett and Jasper saw their girlfriends every day, Edward saw no reason for them to retreat to their rooms. But he also knew the sense of romance that a skiing chalet could convey and the effects it could have on people.

The boys didn't wait long to check-in, but as it turned out the women had already arrived, so there was no need for Jasper and Emmett to officially check-in; only to receive their keys. However, Edward, the only one of the group with his own room, still had to. Finally, they were on their way to find their rooms.

They purposely booked all three rooms in a row so there wouldn't be much of a problem coordinating plans and meeting up to partake in certain activities. One after the other, Jasper and Emmett opened their doors with huge smiles on their faces; excited to see their loves of their lives. Sighing, Edward inserted his key into the lock and opened the heavy wooden door.

Opening it wide, he let out a startled gasp.


	2. Chapter 2: Strangers When We Met

**Chapter Two – Strangers when we Met**

The room was beautiful. It was the biggest hotel room that Bella had ever stayed in, with a huge picture window that overlooked a field, smooth with snow. As you walked in, a bathroom was to your left, complete with a bathtub with Jacuzzi jets and a separate shower stall. Everything was pure white, apart from the plumbing fixtures which were bronze.

The room itself was a combination of tan and deep burgundy. The big comfortable king-sized sleigh bed had a cabernet colored coverlet with tan pillow shams lying plump at the head of the bed. The walls matched the pillow shams, except with a border of burgundy floral designs floating along the top. The woodwork and furniture were all a cherry color in a colonial style, while the carpet and the curtains matched the coverlet on the bed.

Directly across from the bed was a huge flat-screen TV, although Bella could not imagine needing it when in such a place. In another corner sat a couch, a loveseat, and an armchair, all the same color of tan as the walls.

_Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to come along after all,_ she thought as she sat at the edge of the bed. She quickly decided that after a long day of traveling, she needed a shower and a nap before dinner.

Bella let the hot water sooth her tense muscles before a large yawn broke her reverie. Quickly, she finished rinsing off and grabbed one of the softest towels she ever felt and wrapped it around her.

Opening her suitcase, she quickly fumbled around for her pajama pants and a loose t-shirt, but stopped when she heard somebody fumbling with the lock on the door. She quickly ducked behind a wall and only let her head show around the corner as the door slowly opened and the most handsome man she ever laid eyes on walked through the entrance.

Her loud gasp only elicited one of his own as he caught her peeking around the corner. They both stood in silence for a moment before Bella finally found her voice.

"Excuse me, but what do you think you're doing in my room?" Still wrapped in a towel, she showed herself. The quick appraising look from the piercing green eyes did not escape her notice.

"_Your _room? This is most definitely _my_ room. I just checked in."

"And I checked in an hour ago."

Edward, clearly annoyed, closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, this must have been some double-booking mistake. I'll go downstairs and get this fixed." He looked Bella up and down before adding, "And you can get dressed."

Frustrated at such a disastrous mistake on part of the lodge, Edward quickly made his way downstairs and to the front desk. He explained the problem, but the employee didn't have a good answer for him.

"It says here that the room is in both of your names, sir. That's how it must have been reserved."

"There has to be a mistake," Edward contradicted. "I don't even know this woman. How could the room be reserved for both of us?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Well, are there any other rooms available?"

"I'm afraid not, sir."

Edward let out a small growl, which only managed to frighten the poor employee. "Sir, let me go talk to the manager and see what we could do."

Impatiently, Edward leaned against the counter, drumming his fingers on the top. He couldn't believe this happened. He knew he shouldn't have come on this trip, and this complication just confirmed it.

"Sir?" He turned towards the woman's voice. "I am the manager and Mark here told me about your predicament." Edward nodded. "It seems that the room was put in your name as well as a Ms. Bella Swan by the person who made the reservations."

"Who was that?" the bronze-haired man's eyebrows furrowed.

"A Ms. Alice Brandon."

Edward closed his eyes and put his hand to his forehead. He should have known. It was all a set-up. Bella must be one of Alice's friends that she and Rose dragged along on the trip.

"Sir?"

Edward slowly opened his eyes and met the manager's eyes.

"Is there anything we can do?"

He shook his head curtly. "No, I have all the information that I need."

Now Edward had to decide what to do. He couldn't kick Bella out, and he couldn't find another room, so there was no choice except to share. He noticed a large couch in a corner, and ever a gentleman, he figured he could sleep there and let the woman named Bella have the bed.

He was angry, but knew he had no reason to be upset with Bella. She obviously was as shocked as he was, demanding that he get out of her room. Knowing his friends, he knew this was a secret plan to get the two of them together. He had all the knowledge of his friends, especially Alice and her matchmaking tendencies, to know that Bella probably was kept in the dark

No, there was no reason to blame the stranger, but he wondered if she was the type who liked revenge.

Because revenge was what his friends needed.

Knocking on the hotel room door to make sure that Bella was decent, he waited for the soft "come in!" that allowed his entrance. As he walked in, Bella, now dressed in pajamas, looked at him expectantly.

"Well?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Well, there was no mistake."

"What do you mean?" Her face took on a quizzical expression.

"We've been set-up."

Bella's eyes went wide as she threw her hand to her mouth. "Alice!" she hissed.

"The very woman who made the reservations." Edward confirmed.

"Well, are there any extra rooms?"

"Nope," Edward popped the "p." "They are booked straight through New Years."

"So we're in here together?"

Edward's eyebrows furrowed, "If that's alright. I guess I could torture Emmett and Rosalie, or better yet, Alice and Jasper and crash in one of their rooms. Or I could find another hotel…"

"No!" Bella stopped him before he could come up with any more plans. "We can figure this out. After all, we share the same group of friends and we are two mature adults. I trust my friends enough that they wouldn't set me up with some psycho."

"Yeah," Edward smirked as he went to sit on the couch. "They aren't that mean." He paused before continuing, "I figured that I could take the couch and you could have the bed."

"But you're so tall! The couch isn't long enough for you," Bella objected.

"I can sleep anytime, anywhere," he consoled. "It'll be okay."

Bella nodded, biting her lower lip. She sat down at the edge of the bed and shook her head. "I can't believe they would do this. I've never been set-up like this before. And now you must think I'm some desperate woman who can't find a man."

Edward chuckled, "Hey, I am in the same situation. Apparently they thought I was pathetic enough too." A moment of silence passed before Edward realized that she didn't even know his name. "I'm Edward by the way. Edward Cullen."

"I'm Be…"

"Bella, I know. The person at the front desk told me who you were."

"So you're a Cullen then? Are you related to Emmett?"

Edward nodded, "I'm his cousin."

"Oh."

"So how do you know Alice and Rose?"

"We grew up together. Our families have been friends since college. I really consider them to be like my sisters."

"That's nice," Edward smiled. "Do you have any actual siblings?"

Bella shook her head, "No. It's just me. So having Alice and Rose around all the time made my life a lot better. How about you? Do you have any siblings?"

"No," Edward answered. "Emmett is as much as my brother as anybody could be, though."

"Hmm."

Awkward silence filled the room. Neither party knew exactly what to say. They both were thrown in an awkward position that would last about a week and a half as they were staying through New Years. However, Bella and Edward didn't necessarily have to spend much time together during the day. Perhaps the only time they would be in the room together was during the sleeping hours.

All of a sudden, Edward asked a question Bella never expected. "Do you believe in revenge?"

Bella let out a loud chuckle that Edward surprised himself by liking very much. "Revenge?"

"Yeah, against our interfering friends," Edward gave a crooked smile. "I think they deserve some type of comeuppance."

Bella smiled. "I think you may be right. What did you have in mind?"

"Well nothing physical," he answered. "Something that messes with their minds."

"Like playing with them with our so-called relationship?"

"Yeah. The way I figure is we even let them think their plan worked or that it totally backfired," he explained.

"Or," Bella smirked. "We have them wonder what is going on as we flip-flop back and forth between the two extremes."

"Oh, I like it," Edward smiled. "I wouldn't mind some revenge that put their plans as couple time on the backburner."

Bella grinned. She wasn't exactly sure what it was about Edward's demeanor that put her at such ease, but she could not complain. If she was to spend a week and a half with him, she might as well enjoy the time.

What she did not realize, however, was that if Edward's friend saw his expression at that moment, they would swear he was a different man. Within fifteen minutes, his expression had changed from brooding to one of relaxation and enjoyment. Edward himself noticed, but he could not pinpoint the exact moment when it changed, nor the exact reason. However, he was as sure as Bella that the next days would be extremely entertaining.

As their eyes met again and they both burst out in laughter, the feeling of sweet revenge crackled in the atmosphere.


	3. Chapter 3: To the Lodge for Dinner

_**A/N:**_** Thank you all for the awesome reviews… I am glad you are enjoying the story thus far. I hope I do not disappoint. I also hope you keep on enjoying it even though it will go on through the new year…**

**Chapter 3: To the Lodge for Dinner**

"So what do you want to be first?" Edward asked Bella as they were getting ready to meet their friends at the lodge restaurant.

"You mean hopelessly in love, helplessly in lust, or at each other's throats?" Bella smirked. Edward chuckled and nodded. "Let's get their hopes up and be hopelessly in love. Then we can smash their dreams later on."

Her friend let out a laugh at her explanation. "You are devious."

She grinned, "Yep. That's me."

Edward cleared his throat, suddenly making the atmosphere a little more serious. "Bella, you know we will have to use some physical signs, right?"

As Bella heard the words and processed what he said, her face gradually turned red. "Yeah, I guess."

"If you feel uncomfortable, you don't have to do this. I don't want to make you feel awkward."

His friend paused, as if trying to make the decision herself. Finally she responded. "No, I'll be fine. I think their reactions will make up for any awkwardness I may feel."

Edward smiled and held out his hand. "So are you ready for dinner?"

Bella nodded as she took his outstretched hand. Inwardly, she gasped as she felt the tiny flicker of electricity run up her arm. "As ready as I will ever be."

"By the way," Edward included as he reached for the door handle. "You look very lovely tonight, Bella."

Once again, her cheeks turned a lovely shade of red. "Already practicing, are you?"

He shook his head and frowned. "No, I'm serious. You look beautiful."

"Thank you," she whispered, lowering her head. "You don't look half bad yourself."

They really did make a striking pair. Bella was wearing a pair of black leggings that was covered by a sapphire colored satin shirt. It was sleeveless with an empire waistband that hugged her curves in a seductive, yet modest manner.

Edward, on the other hand was dressed in all black. His black button-up shirt was open at the neck, exposing some of his pale skin, while his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

Together, observers could think of them only as a handsome couple.

When Edward and Bella exited the room, the four friends were already waiting for them. Each couple was hand-in-hand, and not one eyebrow did not lift at the sight of the two strangers with clasped hands. Not even Alice could have conceived that a relationship would flourish between Bella and Edward within a couple of hours.

Mentally, she patted herself on the back at her matchmaking abilities.

"Are we ready to proceed?" Edward asked of them without commenting on the surprised looks of their friends. He was content in letting them speculate.

As the group of men and women made their way downstairs to the restaurant, Edward made sure that he and Bella were in the front. Bella smirked at him when she realized that his plan was to make sure that their friends saw every loving gesture they made towards each other.

They conversation among them was lighthearted with banter and talk of their plans during their vacation.

"Did you hear they offer sleigh rides?" Alice was practically bouncing as she spoke. "I've always wanted to go on a real horse-pulled sleigh ride."

Bella's musical laugh floated from her mouth, and Edward had no problem faking an admiring glance as she responded to Alice. "I know. For some reason they almost don't seem to exist except in Christmas songs centered on a romantic couple."

"Exactly!" Alice agreed. She turned to Jasper. "Wouldn't you want to enjoy a romantic ride with me?"

Her boyfriend lifted her hand to his lips and gently kissed her knuckles. "Anything you want, love."

Rosalie, never a person for old-fashioned romance, huffed. "Gag me. I would as soon have a whole-day sex session than endure a ride behind animals that take a crap whenever they want to in the freezing cold."

Emmett wiggled his eyebrows. "Is that so? We can do that whenever you like."

His girlfriend rolled her eyes and playfully punched him in his stomach.

"What?" Emmett feigned shock. "You're the one who suggested it!"

With that comment and the laughter on the lips of the friends, the group entered the restaurant and settled down for dinner.

"I need to use the ladies room," Alice announced towards the end of dinner. "Girls, would you like to join me?"

Bella had no doubt that this impromptu trip to the restroom could only meet one thing: Alice and Rose were going to drill her on the sudden relationship between her and Edward. Before she could object to Alice's request, Rose had her hand that was not being held by Edward's and was pulling her out of her chair.

She knew that there was no use in resisting, so she sent an apologetic look to Edward and quickly followed her friends into the bathroom.

Alice pushed the girls into the rather large restroom with its own sitting room and shut the door. After quickly assessing the area to make sure nobody was else in the bathroom, she turned to Bella with her hands on her hips.

"Okay. Spill."

True to Bella fashion, her face quickly flushed as blood rushed to her cheeks. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Rose intervened in the conversation. "Oh no you don't, Bella Swan. You not only come walking out of your room holding hands with Edward Cullen, but you guys make googly eyes at each other throughout dinner. What's going on?"

Bella helplessly shrugged. "Edward and I just… _clicked._"

Her friends gave each other incredulous looks. "So what? Is it like love at first sight?" Rose asked.

"No," Bella shook her head. "It's definitely not love yet. You know I don't believe in that stuff."

Alice let out a sigh, "Then what exactly are you feeling?"

"I feel as if I'm comfortable with him, like we just fit together. I can't explain it."

Bella knew that what she and Edward were doing was only a game, but as she spoke the words, she was surprised at the truth she felt. She doubted that she would even be comfortable enough to participate in the plan if she didn't feel comfortable around _him_. They hadn't really discussed themselves, but she knew she wanted to get to know him more. All that she knew of him was that he was an only child and his cousin was Emmett.

"And…?" Alice tried to pry some more information from Bella.

"And what?"

"And do you feel anything _physically?_" Rose joined in the interrogation.

"Well," Bella looked at her hands. "_I_ feel attracted to him. We haven't exactly _kissed_ yet. But I want to."

Boy did she want to. Every time that they shared a "loving" glance, her heart started pounding so loudly in her chest, she was sure Edward could hear it. And although she was typically not the type of woman to take the initiative with men, she had to fight herself from closing the space between them to kiss his lips.

"Well, go on and do it!" Rose encouraged. "That man obviously wants to as much as you."

Bella only blushed a deeper red.

"Come on," Alice started walking towards the door. "Let's go before they guys get into too much trouble." Just as she reached the door, she turned towards Bella and glared at her. "I expect an update _every day_, Bella. No exceptions."

With that, she turned dramatically and led the girls back into the restaurant.

The men watched as the women left the table. Once out of earshot, Emmett began the questioning.

"So you tapping that?"

Edward rolled his eyes. "Is that all you think about that?"

His cousin pretended to think for a moment. "Nah. I think about cars, too."

Jasper shook his head slightly while chuckling behind his napkin. Edward could not help but laugh as well.

"Seriously, man. What's going on? I haven't seen you this happy in a while," Emmett asked seriously.

Edward shrugged. "I don't know. I just knew when I saw her that we could have something."

Jasper questioned, "Like love at first sight?"

Emmett snorted. "Oh please, Eddie. Please don't tell me you turned into a sap."

Edward glared at his cousin. "No, not like love at first sight. She's just fascinating. We get along."

"Is that all?" Emmett raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think this happened a little fast? It's not like you."

His cousin mimicked Emmett's expression and looked at both of his friends in the eye. "I thought this is what you guys wanted to happen."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jasper tried to lie.

"Oh come on!" Edward rolled his eyes. "Do you think that Alice just _accidentally_ booked both Bella and me in the same room?"

Emmett and Jasper remained quiet for a moment before the former asked Edward a question again. "But it actually worked?"

His cousin smirked, "It appears to. It's not like we're ready to elope or anything, but we're ready to explore what could come of this."

"Wow," Jasper whispered, surprised that Edward finally stepped out of his shell to attempt a real relationship with a woman.

And for once Emmett was just plain speechless.

Dinner did not last much longer. The six individuals were all tired after the day of traveling. So soon after the bill was paid, the couples separated to go back to their rooms.

"Well, that was interesting," Bella commented as she climbed into bed. As soon as they arrived back at their room, Bella got ready for bed. By time she left the bathroom, Edward already had settled himself on the couch.

"Yeah," her roommate smirked. "I take it that the girls interrogated you in the bathroom?"

Bella chuckled as she settled into her pillow. "Yeah. They wanted to know what was going on."

"The guys did, too."

"Did they seem to believe your story?"

Edward nodded. "Yeah. They were a little incredulous, but it seemed that they believed me."

"Same with the girls."

There was a moment of quiet between the two new friends before Bella spoke out her concern. "Are you sure you are okay on the couch? It looks so uncomfortable."

"This couch is probably one of the most comfortable seats I have ever laid on," Edward comforted Bella's concern. "It's really okay, Bella. Don't worry about it."

"Okay," she conceded but continued before she even thought about offer, "But if you can't sleep, you can always sleep on the other side of the bed. It's rather large."

"Thanks, but I'll be okay."

Once again silence settled in the room. Suddenly, Edward's need to know Bella more overruled his need for sleep.

"What do you do?"

"Hmm?" Bella answered.

"What do you do, like for a career?"

"Oh. I'm a teacher."

"What do you teach?"

"English."

"What grades?"

Instead of getting aggravated at the continuous questions, Bella smiled. "Seventh and eighth."

Edward made a sound that suspiciously sounded like a snort.

"What?" Bella asked.

"How do you manage teaching kids during their most difficult time in growing up?"

She laughed lightly. "I'm extremely patient, but surprisingly tough when it comes to discipline."

This time, it was Edward that laughed. "I can't imagine you being tough."

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult," she pouted.

"A compliment, of course," he quickly elaborated on his point. "You seem so sweet that I could see you giving in to somebody just to please them. And I know middle schoolers can definitely try to persuade people to their own way of thinking."

She sighed, "I guess you are right about kids wanting to persuade adults. But I also know that, so it makes it easier for me to not give in." She paused before asking, "What do you do?"

"I'm in med-school."

"Really? Where?"

"Northwestern."

"Is there a specialty you want to pursue?"

"I want to be a surgeon, just like my father."

"Oh. Does he live in Chicago as well?"

There was such a long silence, that Bella almost believed that Edward had fallen asleep. "Edward?" she whispered.

"He passed away five years ago."

"Oh!" she gasped. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'm used to the questions."

"Do you mind telling me what happened?" Bella leaned up on her elbow on the bed, resting her head in her palm.

Once again, Edward paused before continuing, "Both my father and mother died in a train crash."

"Oh." There was nothing more to say. Bella was afraid that anything she said would bother Edward, and Edward was taken back to his memories.

Soon after, they fell asleep, both dreaming of their most unusual day.


	4. Chapter 4: We Played and Joked

_**A/N: **__Thank you all for your reviews. I hope you are still interested in this even if it took a while for me to update. I haven't been home since New Year's Eve, and then last night I got a nasty stomach virus. Not fun._

_So I have only one thing left to say: "Go Buckeyes!"_

**Chapter Four – Played and Joked**

It seemed that the parts that Edward and Bella were to play were made up without the need to discuss. When the morning came, Edward did not say anything to Bella, even after she greeted him with a "Good Morning."

As Bella brushed her teeth and readied herself to meet their friends for breakfast, she contemplated the change in Edward's demeanor. The night before, her roommate had been perfectly pleasant, even when the need for the charade was not needed in the privacy of their room. However, this morning he had barely even glanced in her direction.

She could not comprehend what changed. Could he be upset that she asked about his parents? It was innocent questions on her part, and she didn't see why after five years a question about how his parents died could affect him so much.

Sighing, Bella finished getting dressed and exited the bathroom. When she glanced around the hotel room, she did not find Edward. Figuring that he already went to the hallway to meet their friends for breakfast, she grabbed her purse and left the room just as Emmett was about to pound on the door.

"Hey. Are you all ready? I'm starved," Bella said as she closed the door behind her.

"Yeah, but where's Edward?" Emmett asked.

Bella looked perplexed. "You mean he's not out here?" All her friends shook their heads. "Then hell if I know."

As suspected, the expressions on everybody's faces showed everything from disbelief to shock at Bella's words. The night before, Bella and Edward were as good as in love, but now, Bella was clearly indifferent towards him. In fact, she was almost indignant.

"When was the last time you saw him?" Alice asked.

"Before I went into the bathroom to get ready," Bella shrugged. "When I came out he was gone."

"Well, Edward knows where to find us if he wants to eat," Emmett commented, clearly impatient to claim some sustenance.

So the group made its way back down to the restaurant. Nothing consequential happened during breakfast; the two couples chatted while Bella silently ate her food. Now that Edward didn't even show up for breakfast, she wondered what was wrong with him.

Sighing, she put down her fork and stood up. "I'm going back to my room. Come get me when you guys are ready to hike."

Although nobody tried to stop her from leaving, Bella could not help but notice the sad and confused eyes of her best friend Alice. It seemed as if her friend was truly sad that things may not have been working out for the best between Bella and Edward.

When Bella opened the door to her hotel room she was shocked to see the subject of her thoughts pacing around the room. Letting the door shut behind her, she softly greeted, "Hi."

"Hi," he answered just as quietly.

"Our friends were wondering where you were."

"Oh?"

"And wondering why all of a sudden I was indifferent towards you."

"Oh."

Bella wanted to ask to where he disappeared, but did not want to pry into his business again. It seemed as if her questioning last night was the reason why he ran off in the first place.

"Are you going hiking with us?"

He nodded.

There were several minutes of awkward silence as Bella began gathering all the things she needed for a hike. She already knew that it was going to be difficult, although really not very long. She figured she would fall no less than five times on the mile hike.

Suddenly, Edward broke the silence. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run off like that."

Bella stopped digging through her suitcase and turned to look towards him. "Then why did you?"

He shrugged as he looked down at the carpet. "My parents' deaths are still… very much in my mind. Emmett tells me that I need to get over it."

"Well, that's a bit harsh."

Her friend shook his head. "No, he has a point. I've let it get me down too much. Please forgive me."

Bella could sense that Edward left things unsaid. Something else about his parents' death bothered him, but once again, she also knew that if she pushed herself into his head, he'd likely disappear. She nodded, "Of course. Next time, just tell me where you're going, please, so I don't look like an idiot."

He gave her a crooked smile, and Bella felt her heart flutter for a moment. "I can do that."

"Are we still on with the plan?"

"Of course. It seems as if you already set the tone for the day."

"Mm hmm. Today is our indifference day."

Edward gave a crooked smile again and commented truthfully, "Which is bound to be the hardest day yet."

And Bella swore her heart stopped.

An hour later, the group of friends was on its return way home from the hike. Both Bella and Edward were playing their roles very well, making sure to be on opposite sides of their group and throwing sarcastic comments back and forth.

Despite their attitudes, their friends did not comment on their behavior. They were all trying to figure out what changed in the first place that made the two intended lovers so hostile.

Meanwhile, both Bella and Edward really did find their plan difficult to act out. Both inexplicably felt drawn to each other and the need to know one another better. Bella decided it was only because they were closely working on a plan of revenge, and Edward attributed it to the fact that he hadn't been this close to a woman outside of his family in several years.

The group had just turned around to go back to the lodge, and Bella had just realized she had yet to trip when all of a sudden she was flat on her face.

If it had just been her with her two friends and their boyfriends, she probably would have turned red, but thought nothing else of it. However, it wasn't the case, and the one man that she was attracted to was standing ten feet away from her, doubled up laughing.

As quickly as she could, Bella stood up and faced Edward. "Do you really think this is funny?"

Not being able to talk due to his hysterics, Edward only nodded.

Now truly angry, Bella let out a huff and turned around to continue walking after her friends who barely even stopped to double check to make sure she was okay. They knew she fell frequently, and their plan was to have Edward help her if she was not okay.

Trying to make a dignified escape, Bella only found herself falling again, effectively causing Edward to only laugh harder.

Eyes blazing, Bella let out a growl and headed back towards Edward. As she approached, she picked up some snow and molded it into a ball. "How do you like this?" she sneered before crashing the snow directly into his face.

Sputtering, Edward wiped the snow away from his face, but instead of an angry expression, his face showed a mischievous side.

"Now you're getting it," he smirked. Before Bella even realized what he was doing, Edward had scooped up a ball of snow and reciprocated her actions.

"Ooh," she growled as her eyes narrowed. "This means war."

Just like that, a snow war erupted between the two. It wasn't so much a snow_ball_ fight as just a snow war because no snow balls were really created. Edward and Bella took turns either throwing snow in each other's faces and heads, or trying to get the snow between their bodies and coats.

At first, Bella's attacks were laced with animosity, but as Edward's face portrayed his amusement with the situation, Bella's attitude slowly changed. It wasn't long before she was laughing along with her companion.

Finally, both were out of breath and stopped their war. As they stood, hands on their knees, catching their breaths, Edward could not help but admire the sparkle in Bella's eyes and the color of her cheeks as she continued to smile.

Finally dragging his stare away from Bella's face, he looked around only to notice that they were alone. "It looks as if our friends left us."

"Probably in an attempt to make us friends again," she snorted. Realizing the sound she made, her eyes widened as she brought both hands to her mouth.

Not wanting to risk upsetting her again, Edward kept his laughter to a small chuckle before commenting, "That was cute."

Her blush became stronger as she looked down. "Yeah. Cute."

"No, really," he grinned as he took a step towards her and reached out to push a strand of hair behind her ear. "It was."

"Thanks," she whispered.

"So should we head back? I have quite a bit of snow down my coat."

Bella laughed, "So do I."

They both took steps back towards the lodge as they kept a close distance from one another, neither willing to put the space between them as they had all that morning.

"Are we continuing with the hostility when we return?" Bella asked.

"We might as well," Edward shrugged. "If we flip back and forth _too_ quickly, they'll know something is up. Just pretend like you are mad at me as if you did before."

"Pretend?" Bella scoffed. "That was no pretending."

Edward's eyes widened in shock. "I thought it was."

"Hell no. I was pissed off at you, laughing at me like that even though you barely knew me."

"Oh." Edward paused before continuing, "Well, I apologize then. I didn't realize that you were truly that upset."

"It's okay," Bella waved her hand to dismiss his apology. "I'm sorry that I got so worked up. I usually don't since my friends are so used to me falling anyway."

"It happens often then?" he asked, amusement shining clearly in his eyes.

"More than you realize. I'm shocked I only fell twice."

"Well, maybe next time I'll be there to catch you," Edward smiled.

"Maybe."


	5. Chapter 5: We Skied the Slopes Sort of

_**A/N: **__Hey, sorry this has been a while. Things have been hectic. I have been back and forth between my parents' and my in-laws, and then the school quarter is drawing to a close, so I've had a lot of work._

_Thank you all for your reviews. I can't believe the response I'm getting!_

**Chapter 5 – We Skied the Slopes (Sort of)**

"Let me in!" Bella exclaimed while practically banging on the hotel room door. "Alice, I know you're in there!"

"Hold on!" Bella's friend called out as she threw on a robe and stalked towards the door. "What is so important that you have to wake up the dead at three in the…" she began to ask as she opened the door. However, words left her when she saw her best friend's tear-stained face. Immediately, Alice gathered Bella in her arms, murmuring, "It will be all right," while leading Bella into the room.

"I'm sorry," Bella sniffled when she saw that she had awoken Jasper as well. "I just needed to get out of there and to talk to somebody."

"Oh dear," Alice whispered before asking, "What's wrong?"

"Edward!" Bella cried out as tears started flowing again.

"What about him?" the pixie questioned, furrowing her eyebrows.

"He's a jerk!" Bella exclaimed while taking a seat at the foot of the bed. Alice followed her and sat down, draping a comforting arm around Bella's shoulders. "This is going to be the worst Christmas ever!" the distraught woman continued.

"Shh," Alice soothed, rubbing Bella's arm. "It'll be all right. Just tell me what happened."

"Well," Bella grabbed a tissue and blew hard into it. "You know how I told you that I was attracted to him and felt comfortable around him?" Alice nodded. "Well, I thought he felt the same way, too. The way he acted today confused me, so I confronted him."

"And?"

"And he told me that there was no way in hell he would be with a clumsy ugly teacher like me!"

As Bella erupted into sobs again, Alice glanced over at Jasper who was trying not to make it obvious that he was eavesdropping on the entire conversation. With a question in her eyes, Alice silently pleaded Jasper for some information, but Jasper only shrugged.

"Oh, sweetie," Alice consoled, pulling Bella tighter. "I'm sure it's a big misunderstanding."

Her friend looked up from where she was leaning on Alice's shoulder. "How can it be a misunderstanding when he directly said, 'there is no way in hell I would be with a clumsy ugly teacher like you'?"

"Well…" Alice was searching for some words, but Jasper interrupted her.

"Bella, I can't understand why he would say something like that," he spoke thoughtfully. "He has never been anything but polite."

"Well apparently his patience was used up when I came into his life!" Bella sighed.

Alice and Jasper, not knowing what else to say, offered Bella the option of staying with them for the night; after which Bella threw herself into a hug with Alice and then Jasper before snuggling herself into the bed.

With her face hidden in the pillow, neither Alice nor Jasper saw the sly smile that adorned Bella's face.

The morning light was filtering in through the cracks of the curtains as Bella snuck herself back into her hotel room. Noticing the bump in the bed that Edward took the liberty of using the prior night, Bella took a running start before bouncing on the bed next to him.

Groaning, Edward turned to lie on his side. Opening one eye, he glanced at Bella's amused expression before closing it again. "I take it the plan went well?"

"They fell for it hook, line, and sinker," Bella smirked. "Both were so perplexed why you would say such a horrible thing to me that they offered me to stay with them without me asking to."

"What did you tell them I said?"

"That you would never be with a clumsy ugly teacher like me."

Edward popped an eye open again. "That's not true."

At his words, the young woman could feel the blood flooding to her cheeks. Unbeknownst to her, the young gentleman could not help but think about how attractive the blush looked on her.

"Well, they don't need to know that," she finally spoke. "All they need to think is that we had a huge fight and that you insulted me."

"Hmm," Edward sighed as he closed his eye again. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

Bella chuckled as she moved to get off the bed. "Yeah. I'll let you sleep some more. I'm going to go check out the library this place has. I'll come back up before breakfast."

There was no sound except the soft snores coming from the man sleeping peacefully in bed, who just happened to be dreaming of a lady with beautiful chestnut colored eyes.

"How can you be so cheery?" Edward grumbled as Bella woke him again two hours later.

"It's Christmas Eve!" she exclaimed. "How can I not be cheery?"

"It's not Christmas."

"But Christmas Eve is so much better!" Bella explained. "I think the anticipation of Christmas may be even better than the day itself. Besides, it's when my family got together with Rosalie's and Alice's families and celebrated."

"You know what I like about Christmas Eve?"

"What?" his companion asked contentedly.

"Getting to sleep in," he explained. However, instead of merely explaining, he wrapped an arm around Bella, effectively pulling her down to lie next to him. "Now go to sleep."

As Bella tried to not let the fact that Edward's arms were around her affect her, she shook her head. "Nope. Everybody else is getting ready for breakfast anyway. And after the stunt you pulled yesterday, I doubt they'll let you get away with skipping the meal again."

Her partner in crime sighed as he sat up and rubbed his face with his hand. "I suppose."

"Besides," Bella continued, "we probably will have enough time between our activities today and celebration tonight to take another nap."

Groaning, Edward brought his legs over to the side of the bed and stood up, stretching. With his back towards his roommate, he missed the gasp she took in and the brief expression of lust that overtook her expression.

"So are we made up today?" Edward questioned.

"Uh," Bella stuttered as she fought to find her words. "Yeah."

"So it's the 'we can't keep our hands off each other' day, isn't it?" Edward smirked as he looked behind him at Bella, who instantly erased any suspicious expression from her face.

All Bella could do was nod.

As Edward closed himself in the bathroom, Bella laid back down on the bed, wondering what the day would be like. She had mixed emotions about her and Edward's plan. In the beginning, it sounded great; that it would throw their friends through a loop.

She still enjoyed the idea of revenge, and truly had no problem with the plan of one day being all "lovey dovey" and the next day being either at each other's throats or ignoring each other. However, the third day in the rotation had her heart beating quickly in her chest. This was the day that they were to act as if they couldn't keep their hands off each other.

At first, it seemed a harmless plan; however, as she grew more and more comfortable with Edward and acknowledged that she had a bit of attraction for him, Bella had doubts that she could kiss him and keep it just a game. She knew it was an act for him, but Bella knew that her feelings could get in her way fairly quickly if she did not catch herself.

"What are you thinking about?" Edward's voice shocked her out of her reverie.

"Oh, just what we are going to do today," Bella half-lied, making it seem as if she was wondering what the day's activities would be.

"I think everybody wanted to go skiing, didn't they?"

"Oh yeah," Bella grimaced. Skiing was alright, but it had been a while since she tried the sport, and she wondered if she could even stand on her own two feet with the skis attached.

"What's wrong?"

Bella chuckled at Edward's question. "Remember me yesterday while hiking?" Her friend smirked while nodding his head. "Now imagine me on skis."

Edward imitated Bella's chuckle with the comment, "Enough said." He paused before asking, "Are you ready to go wait for our friends now?"

"So early?"

He smirked. "I figure we should be out there so when the others come out into the hallway we are in position."

Bella raised an eyebrow. "Position for what?"

"Stage three, of course," Edward grinned.

Bella never would have guessed it by Edward's display of confidence, but Edward was feeling the same kind of insecurities that Bella was feeling. Edward wasn't exactly a prude, but neither was he a man to take physical signs of affection lightly. He, too, acknowledged a growing attraction and connection between himself and Bella, and was anxious to how "stage three" would pan out.

But then again, the primitive man in him could not wait to get his hands on Bella and was secretly counting down the minutes until he could. And so he gladly followed Bella out of the hotel room door and into the hallway.

"So what do you plan on doing?" Bella smirked, feigning the confidence that she did not feel.

"I thought a lovely picture of us in a heated kiss against the door would confuse our friends quite nicely. As soon as it sounds like somebody is leaving their room, we'll begin."

Bella's face was on fire again as she blushed a deep crimson. "Right."

To the couple, the minutes encased in silence seemed like hours before they finally heard rustling inside Emmett's and Rosalie's room; but when they finally heard some sounds, Edward closed the space between Bella and himself and wrapped an arm around her waist.

At the touch, both could have sworn they felt an electrical spark flow through their bodies, but neither one had much time to consider the feeling before Edward's lips descended upon Bella's.

The kiss began hesitantly as Bella and Edward grew accustomed to the feel of their lips against one another as well as the emotions they were both feeling. Edward could only describe the feeling as coming home; as if he always belonged with Bella. She felt warmth and contentment just being in his arms.

Although the kiss started out slowly, Edward soon deepened the kiss by gently licking Bella's lower lip, urging her to open and allow him entrance. Before either of them knew it, Bella was pushed against the door with her hands entangled in Edward's hair while their tongues dueled for dominance.

"Holy shit!" Emmett's loud voice finally drove the two of them apart, but Edward would not allow for them to be totally separated. Although he turned to face his cousin, he kept an arm firmly around Bella's waist.

"Do you have a problem?" Edward asked coolly, lifting an eyebrow.

Emmett shook his head while stuttering, "No. I just thought you guys were having a fight."

As Bella's thoughts drifted from the clouds, she mimicked Edward's demeanor and answered, "Well, we're obviously over it."

"What's going on out here?" Rosalie asked as she opened her hotel room door and stepped out.

"Edward was totally shoving his tongue down Bella's throat," her boyfriend eloquently answered.

With his response, Rosalie's eyes lit up as she practically skipped across the hall to bang on Alice's door.

"I'm coming!" Alice yelled through the wood before swinging the door open. "Geez! Get some patience!"

"Edward and Bella were just lip-locked in the hallway. Emmett caught them!" Rose explained to her friend.

Alice's eyes immediately narrowed as they found Bella's face. "I thought Edward was a jerk, Bella."

Her friend shrugged. "It was all a misunderstanding. We're all good now."

"Obviously," Alice rolled her eyes. "Next time, though, could you make sure it wasn't just a misunderstanding before you come wake me up at two in the morning?"

"Sure," Bella grinned happily while leading the group down to the restaurant with Edward's arm still securely around her waist.

"What do you mean you're not skiing?" Edward's voice was incredulous as he gathered his ski clothes. "That's the whole point of this trip!"

Their act at breakfast went over without a hitch. Bella and Edward played their parts of not being able to keep their hands off each other so well, even Emmett and Rosalie had to object.

However, once Bella and Edward returned to their room, they separated themselves from their roles and immediately started acting like the new friends they were.

"For you, maybe," Bella responded. "But I just wanted a relaxing vacation."

"So why does that not involve skiing?"

"Because you guys all want to go on the intermediate and advanced slopes. Without much practice, I'm not sure I can even advance past the bunny slope where all the kids ski. I'd ski alone, but I'd probably end up hurting myself and dying of hypothermia in the snow before somebody found me."

In response to Bella's melodramatic explanation, Edward laughed loudly. "You're not going to die of hypothermia. Somebody would find you, even if it is a little kid."

"Ha ha. Very funny," Bella crossed her arms and tried to look serious.

"Why don't I go with you?"

She objected, "I couldn't ask you to do that."

"You didn't ask me," he shrugged.

"Still, you wouldn't enjoy yourself if you were limited to the beginner slopes."

"Yes I would. You're amusement enough."

Bella rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, Bella," Edward said in a more serious tone as he sat down on the bed beside her. "I wouldn't mind. Maybe in a couple of days you'll be confident enough to try a different level."

Bella looked down at her hands that were clasped in her lap. "Still, I feel as if I'm holding you back."

"If I didn't want to ski with you, Bella, then I would have no problem leaving you alone in this room to rot," he teased, causing his roommate to giggle. "Besides, somebody has to be there to save you from hypothermia. I'm in med school, remember?"

"Okay, okay," she chuckled. "I give in. You can ski with me."

_Two Hours Later_

"I told you this would happen!"

"No, you said you would be left to die of hypothermia. I was there to save you."

"But I told you I would get hurt."

Edward smirked. "I suppose you did."

Bella sighed as she leaned her head against the wall of the medical clinic of the resort. Her right foot was propped on another chair and her ankle was covered in an ice pack. True to her word, she did end up falling and spraining her ankle badly, leaving herself in a position to have to be carried back to the clinic by Edward who laughed the whole time, despite the pain she was in.

She couldn't believe it. She knew her luck was bad, and she ended up at the doctor's office or hospital more times than she could count; but after her series of falls the day before, this seemed too much; especially since it provided Edward with such amusement.

Just as Edward was going to make a teasing remark, the doctor entered the examining room with an x-ray.

"Well, it is like I expected," she explained. "It's not broken, but it is sprained pretty severely. You're going to have to stay off your foot for a while. I'm going to wrap the ankle up for you and give you a pair of crutches to use during your stay here."

Swiftly but gently, the doctor wrapped Bella's ankle with an ace bandage and then adjusted a pair of crutches to Bella's height.

"Have you been on crutches before?" the doctor asked.

Bella rolled her eyes, "More times than I can count."

"Well, that's it then. Come back in a week so I can check to make sure it is healing properly. Until then, I'm sure your boyfriend can take care of you."

Bella stammered, ready to tell the doctor that Edward was not her boyfriend, but he spoke before she could even find her voice. "I'm sure I can," Edward gave the doctor his dazzling grin before helping Bella to her feet.

As Bella made her way out of the examining room with Edward at her side, she couldn't help but wish that things were as they seemed to those around them.


	6. Chapter 6: We Loved and Laughed

_**Author's Note: **__So. Heh. Yeah. Hi. It's been a while, ain't it? Sorry, RL's crap some times, and it's not going to get better any time soon (besides these 2 weeks I have off). I hope you're still interested in this story even though it's been so long since I've updated. I really appreciated all your reviews. I even went back to read them to inspire me. But I _do_ have plans on finishing this._

_So recap: Alice and her scheming ways attempted to hook Bella up with Edward (who is totally understandably emo because his parents died while he was in college) by putting them in the same room on a Christmas skiing trip. Edward and Bella decide to play mind games with their friends by switching from being in love, then fighting, and then lusting. On the first day of skiing, Bella managed to hurt her ankle in the clumsy way that Bella is. So now it's Christmas Eve… This chapter isn't very long, but I decided it needed to stop where it is._

_This chapter isn't so comical as fluffy. Because we all need fluff once in a while._

_SM owns all. _

**Chapter 6 – We Loved and Laughed**

"I still can't believe it," Rosalie shook her head as she curled Bella's hair. The women were currently in Rose's room preparing for Christmas Eve dinner. "How did _you_ even manage to hurt yourself the first time skiing?"

Alice snickered as Bella shrugged her shoulders. "Face it, guys: I'm a walking disaster."

"Oh we know that," Alice giggled. "That's why _I'm_ currently applying your make-up so you don't poke your eye out with the mascara."

"Oh shove it!" Bella cried out as she playfully kicked Alice in the shin. "Ouch!" She reached down to tenderly touch her foot that was injured; the one that she used to kick Alice.

"Serves you right!" Rose laughed. "Why isn't it wrapped anyway?"

A blush spread over Bella's face as she explained, "Edward was going to do it, but then I ended up taking a shower over here. I guess he has to do it after I'm done getting ready."

Bella's two friends gave each other significant looks. "Oh. And how is Edward, Bella?" Alice coyly asked.

If it were possible, Bella's face turned even a darker shade of red. "He's okay."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Okay? You expect us to be _okay_ with that answer?"

"What?" Bella shrugged her shoulders. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, how about how he helped you when you fell," Alice prompted.

"It wasn't much," Bella worried her bottom lip as she recalled the accident earlier that day. "He helped me up and to the lodge."

"Did he carry you?" Alice's eyes were wide with curiosity.

"Not up the hill. He'd need to have superhuman strength with the layers of clothes I had on."

Rose joined the interrogation, "But he _did _carry you?"

Bella nodded, her cheeks flaming. "Once we got to the lodge."

"Oooh," Bella's friends sighed simultaneously, only causing Bella to roll her eyes at them.

"And the whole time he was making fun of me."

Alice waved it off. "He was probably just teasing, Bella. A lot of times, that's just a sign of affection. That's why _I _tease _you._"

Perhaps Alice was correct; maybe Edward _did_ feel some affection towards Bella. But it seemed too much to hope that the affection extended past friendship.

Wait. Since when did I wish he thought of me as more than a friend?

Just as Rosalie stated that Bella's pampering was all done, there was a knock at the door. Rose rolled her eyes muttering, "Can they be a little more impatient?"

However, Alice raised her voice to politely answer the door. "Yes?"

Surprisingly, it was not Jasper or Emmett's voice they heard through the solid wood door. Instead, it was Edward's soothing baritone that answered. "Are you all decent?"

Alice let out a little squeal as she bounced, yes, _bounced_, over to the door. Opening the door just enough to peak out of the crack, she responded to Edward's question. "We are, but you can't see Bella yet."

"Why not?"

"Because you just have to wait for our grand appearance." The pixie rolled her eyes as if it were obvious.

"But I need to wrap Bella's foot," the man at the door stated. "She has to have her ankle stabilized as much as possible.

Alice let out a whimper. "But…"

This time it was Bella that rolled her eyes. "Let him in, Alice."

Immediately a pout formed on the woman's face, but she opened the door wider nonetheless.

Edward flashed her a smile and thanked her before laying his eyes on Bella. The vision of her nearly caused him to stop in his tracks, but he managed to talk himself into remaining calm and collected as he walked towards the chair that she currently occupied. She sat with dark curls that framed her fair face, a black skirt that barely reached her knees, as well as a red scoop-necked cashmere sweater. The collar of the sweater was not meant enough to be provocative; it did not reveal much of her chest at all. But nevertheless, Edward, wondering if Bella's skin would be as soft as the cashmere, felt the desire to brush his fingers, and perhaps his lips, across her clavicle. He could honestly confess that no other woman had ever took the his breath away like the innocent vision of Bella, waiting for him to wrap her ankle.

Edward did not know, however, that Bella's thoughts at the sight of him were not all that innocent. They weren't X-rated by any means, but her thoughts definitely took her past the realm of friendship. He was dressed semi-formally in black trousers that definitely fit him well and a black sports coat. Underneath the coat, he wore a green dress shirt that brought out his emerald eyes. As he did not wear a tie, the first button of the shirt was undone, revealing a small V of his skin. Bella briefly wondered what his skin tasted like there.

_Stop it, Bella. This is all pretend. _She couldn't help but chastise herself.

"Give me your foot," Edward commanded as he sat on the edge of the bed. Bella wasted no time to do what she was told.

However, as soon as Edward even touched the bottom of her foot, Bella jerked her foot back with a squeal, causing Edward to chuckle. "Ticklish much?"

"Just a little," Bella smiled, while giving her foot back to Edward to try again. However, with just the slightest touch, Bella was laughing again, but this time Edward managed to grab her right above the ankle to stop her from retrieving her foot.

"Stop that!" he laughed, "or we'll never make it to dinner."

"I'm sorry! I can't help it!"

"It's true," Alice, who was all but forgotten by the pseudo-couple, joined in. "She's very ticklish. It's one of Emmett's pastimes to tackle her and tickle her until she can barely breathe."

"Really?" Edward smirked. "Now there's something I've got to try."

With the distraction of the conversation, Edward was actually able to start wrapping Bella's foot without her noticing enough to be ticklish.

"There!" Edward squeezed her foot. "Does it feel too tight?" he asked as he slipped two fingers between the bandage and Bella's skin behind her ankle, and then on top of her foot.

"It feels fine, but what are you doing?"

"Making sure you still have pulses down there so your foot doesn't turn blue and fall off," Edward smirked.

"Well, what's the verdict, doc?"

"I think you'll still have a foot by the end of the evening."

"Well, that's nice to hear. I'd hate for you having to carry me around the rest of the vacation."

"I don't think that would be a problem."

Unbeknownst to them, they had created a sphere around them that only included the couple. They didn't realize that they were both staring intently into each other's eyes with small smiles on them. It wasn't until Rosalie cleared her throat that the bubble was broken.

"Come on lovebirds, or we're going to miss our reservation." Even though it was said with a tinge of annoyance, the smirk on the blonde's face revealed that she was at least amused by Edward and Bella's display.

At the term used by Rosalie to describe her and Edward, Bella immediately blushed. She hadn't realized that she and Edward had gotten so used to playing their parts; they were doing it without noticing.

Edward, however, could not keep a slight smile from forming on his face as he stood from the bed and handed Bella her crutches. "Come on, gimpy. It's time to eat."

"Ha ha. So funny you are." Bella rolled her eyes as she stood, aided by Edward's hand on her arm.

Still, she could not keep the smile off her face.

Dinner passed by quickly with a lot of conversation and laughter. After the meal, the group found themselves in one of the lodge's sitting rooms, sharing a couple of bottles of wine. Each respective couple found their own corner close enough to talk at a comfortable volume, yet far enough away to create their own little world. And as Edward's arm was draped around Bella's shoulders, she could not help but to pretend that it was real.

The conversation amongst the friends eventually led to talk about favorite Christmas memories.

"I remember when both Rose's and Bella's families would come over to open gifts," Alice reminisced with a smile. "We'd all keep our PJ's on all morning while Mom cooked enormous pancakes."

"With chocolate chips," Bella added, licking her lips.

Rose continued, "And then we would have a snowball fight outside, still wearing our pajamas. Our parents always yelled at us that we were going to get sick."

"But we never did!" Alice confirmed.

There was a lull in the laughter before Jasper spoke up. "We'd go hunting while the women cooked. One time we brought back a 13-pointer."

For some reason, the girls thought this was hilarious and burst into giggles.

"What?" Jasper asked.

"It's just it sounds so cliché from somebody from the south. You went hunting while the _women_ cooked?" Alice laughed.

Jasper shrugged. "Believe me, you didn't want any of us in the kitchen anyway. We'd end up having to go out to eat."

Bella smiled, "It was always my mom that Dad and I had to keep out of the kitchen. You never knew what she was going to cook up next. And when she actually used a recipe, it never came out right."

"Remember your thirteenth birthday cake?" Rose asked. Immediately, the three women were giggling again. The cake was always a cause for laughter, and the girls never let Bella's mom live it down. Renee had started to become creative with ingredients and what was left was a flat, brown piece of mush. That birthday, Bella and her friends all went out for ice cream.

"How about you, Em?" Bella asked.

"Hmm," he put his finger to his chin as he though. "Probably playing football outside in the snow… _as the women cooked,_" he smirked. "Remember that Eddie?"

Immediately, Bella felt Edward's arm tense. Remembering what happened to his parents, she gently squeezed his knee, hoping to relax him. It had the desired effect as she felt his arm relax, but all he did to reply to Emmett was nod.

Bella frowned. She couldn't imagine losing your parents before even finishing college, but she would have thought that it could only bring happiness to reminisce about fun times. Taking a chance, she looked up at Edward and asked, "And you, Edward? What's a favorite memory?"

It seemed as if the other friends in the room were holding their breath, waiting to see how Edward reacted. Emmett knew above all that Edward tried not to think of the past, as ridiculous as it may seem.

Bella didn't know how much time passed after her question; it could have been seconds, maybe minutes, but at last, Edward spoke.

"I loved how Mom and Dad would play 'Santa' even long after we stopped believing. They would never put the presents out until the middle of the night when I was asleep. That way I could never check out the presents before Christmas morning," Edward said with a slight smile. Suddenly, his eyes turned mischievous as he smirked, "And playing football outside while the women cooked."

It was almost as if everybody let their breath out at once as everybody chuckled. Bella, however, caught Emmett's eyes as he tried to relay a sentiment towards her. She could see relief in his eyes; perhaps gratitude as well. But she could not imagine what the look was for. She couldn't see why he would feel gratitude towards her.

"Well," Rosalie stood from her chair. "It's time for my beauty sleep."

"Me too," Alice agreed. "And remember we agreed that we weren't going to meet for breakfast tomorrow."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Of course. Because you want to try out the room service. But we all know what that really means."

"Hey!" Emmett exclaimed. "Rose needs to wear her sexy Santa outfit sometime!"

"Wow," Bella drawled. "That was just too much information, Em."

"Just keeping it real," he winked.

"Uh huh."

As the two other couples headed to the elevators, Bella noticed that Edward wasn't moving. "Are you going to bed now, too?"

He shrugged. "Actually, I've been eying that piano over there for quite some time."

"You play?"

He nodded. "Since I was three."

"Wow." Bella took a deep breath before requesting, "Will you play for me?"

Edward gave her the half smile that she loved so much as he responded, "Of course." He stood as he offered her is hands to help her. "Let's not bother with the crutches. I can support you across the room."

Inadvertently, Bella's face flushed as Edward wrapped his arm around her waist, hold her to him tightly, allowing for her to put her weight on him. From her position, she could smell his spicy scent and finding herself wanting to bury her face into his chest just to inhale his smell.

Edward was not unaffected, either. As he felt Bella's warmth against him, he could not stop himself from wishing he could hold her like that forever. He just wanted to bury his nose in her strawberry scented hair, even for a moment.

All too soon, they made it to the simple upright piano. Edward led her to the bench before sitting down beside her. "What would you like to hear?"

"Do you know any Christmas songs?"

"Of course. Do you have a favorite?"

"Hmm," Bella pouted as she thought. "I always loved 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.' Do you know that one?"

Wordlessly, Edward placed his hands on the piano and softly began the song. The music was so gentle and soothing, that Bella could not help but close her eyes as the song enveloped her. The notes flowed seamlessly as Edward caressed the keys and put all the emotion he felt into the song. Too soon, in Bella's opinion, was it over.

"Can you play more?"

"Certainly. Any more requests?"

Bella shook her head. "Just anything you want to is fine."

For the next hour, Bella listened as Edward played song after song. No words were spoken between them, but when Bella finally yawned, Edward suggested that it was time to make their way up to their room.

While waiting for the elevator Bella questioned Edward about the songs he played. "How do you remember all those songs?"

He shrugged. "I actually was making the arrangements up as I went along."

Bella was speechless and she was certain she stared at him with her mouth open. "You're serious?"

He gave her a crooked smile and nodded as they stepped into the awaiting elevator.

"Wow. I knew there were musicians out there that could do that sort of thing, but I never met one. You're phenomenal."

"Thanks," Edward replied as he felt his cheeks warm. He rarely blushed, but something about Bella's adoration of his playing thrilled him.

Exhausted, they entered their room without saying another word, but as Bella watched Edward prepare the couch as his bed for the third night in the row, she couldn't help but feel bad. Gathering all her courage, she spoke as she burrowed her way under the covers.

"The bed's a king size you know." Edward stood up and turned towards her with an eyebrow raised. "I mean… we could share the bed without even touching." She was sure her face was beet red.

"Are you sure?" Edward asked with concern written on his face.

When she nodded, Edward walked over to the bed on the opposite side of Bella and settled himself into the comfortable mattress. He sighed, "You don't know how comfortable this feels."

"I'm sorry," Bella bit her lip as she lied there facing him on her side.

"Don't be, Bella. We didn't know each other and it would definitely have been awkward to share even a big bed."

"Hmm," Bella yawned. As her eyes opened again, she focused on the clock behind Edward. It was 12:01; Christmas morning.

"Merry Christmas, Edward."

"Merry Christmas, Bella."

And soon, both drifted off into a dreamless sleep.


	7. Chapter 7: Sang Christmas Songs

_**Author's Note: **__*climbs out of hole she's hiding in* Hi! Been a while, but I have suddenly reappeared!_

_Thanks to all who review and inquire about the absence of this story. It makes me happy that people look for updates _

**Chapter 7 – Sang Christmas Songs and Talked to Folks**

As sunlight filtered into the room, Bella's eyes fluttered open to find Edward's green ones staring back at her. Neither one had moved during the night, so they both woke up on their sides, facing on another.

Bella couldn't help but admire how Edward still looked good even with his hair all messed up and sleep in his eyes. Unbeknownst to Bella, Edward was thinking the same thing about his bed companion.

Curious to what time it was, Bella looked at the clock on the other side of Edward. Noticing where Bella's attention turned to, Edward asked what time it was.

"Already eleven. I guess we were tired."

"I guess," he replied as he sat up. "What do you want to do about food?"

His companion shrugged. "Might as well get room service and make our friends think we're holing ourselves up in the room like they are."

Edward smirked while reaching for the room service menu. "Good point."

They quickly decided what to eat, and while Edward called room service, Bella decided to take a shower. Well, she attempted to take a shower, but with her ankle still swollen and tender, she ended up having to take a bath instead.

In the relaxing water, Bella lost all sense of time until her skin alerted her to the coolness of the water. As she dried herself and pulled on the softest robe she had ever felt, Bella heard the hotel room door open, followed by Edward's voice, and then finally the door closing. With the following silence that confirmed that Edward was alone in the room, Bella opened the bathroom door. What she saw caused her to catch her breath.

Standing next to the bed stood a shirtless Edward wearing nothing but low slung basketball shorts. Prior to this occurrence, Edward was always wearing a shirt, even when going to sleep. Taken off guard, Bella slowly dragged her gaze down Edward's torso.

It was clear to her that he exercised regularly from the toned shoulders to the defined biceps down to the six-pack abs. She must have stared for many seconds because the next thing she heard was Edward clearing his throat. She looked up to see his beautiful smirk.

Bella was immediately as red as a tomato.

"So I decided to have a little fun," Edward initiated as he pulled on his T-shirt. At Bella's raised eyebrow that questioned his statement, he continued, "I decided to put on a show just in case one of our friends was spying on us as I opened the door."

"Was there?"

His smirk grew bigger. "Yeah. I caught Alice looking out through her cracked door. I winked at her to give her more fuel for the fire of her creativity."

Bella laughed, "Now the girls will be begging me to tell them how good the sex is." As soon as she realized what she said, her eyes grew wide and she covered her open mouth.

She didn't know exactly why she became embarrassed. Obviously part of the plan was to make their friends believe she and Edward were sleeping together. In an effort to ease her embarrassment, Edward pulled her hand away from her mouth.

"Don't be embarrassed, Bella. The guys will be asking me, too. Besides, if they believe we are sleeping together, it just adds more fun to our plan. Now come on," Edward cajoled, pulling Bella towards a chair. "It's time to eat."

"So what are we doing?" Bella asked as she and Edward sat in the same living area where the group stayed up reminiscing the night before. After breakfast, they attempted to get in contact with their other friends, but neither couple wanted to leave the room just yet, with plans to exit their rooms to have supper with the odd couple. Edward speculated that spending all Christmas in their rooms was the goal of her friends spending Christmas away from their parents.

Now Bella and Edward were trying to figure out how to spend their Christmas.

"We can go skiing," Edward teased.

"Once again," Bella rolled her eyes, "you think you are such the jokester."

Edward shrugged. "I try." What he didn't tell Bella was that he purposely tried to cause her to blush. He thought she was beautiful by herself, but the rose tinge to her cheeks, she seemed to shine. He also didn't inform her that he was looking forward to spending another day with only Bella to keep him company.

"What about a sleigh ride?"

At Edward's suggestion, Bella's eyes lit up.

"It looks like a beautiful day out," he continued. "And not to mention Alice will be so _envious_ when she finds that you went a ride before her," he winked.

Bella smirked, "Or she will be thrilled that you and I went on a 'romantic' sleigh ride together." As she said the word, "romantic," she used her hands to make quotations.

Her companion chuckled at the truthfulness of her words and then asked, "So you up for it?"

"Of course. You'll need to help me get in, though."

"Yes, Gimpy, I know."

Using the back of her hand, Bella lightly slapped Edward on his arm.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. "What was that for?"

"You know what," she rolled her eyes. "And besides, that couldn't possibly have hurt."

"Maybe you're stronger than you think."

"And maybe you're a wimp."

Bella saw a glint in Edward's eyes as he threatened, "Now you're going to get it."

"Oh, well that _cannot_ be fair. Where am I going to go?" Bella retorted referencing the injury.

"All the best for revenge, my sweet," he smirked as he reached and started to tickle Bella's side.

"Stop it!" she squeaked before full out laughing.

"I knew it! You had to be ticklish in more places than your feet."

"Please! Please, Edward!" She pleaded as tears came into her eyes.

"Please what?"

"Please stop! People are looking at us weird!"

And indeed people _were_ looking at them. But perhaps Bella was misinterpreting their expressions. Where Bella perceived that they were looking at Edward and Bella's antics with annoyance, the majority of the people, who were wrapped up in the romantic Christmas experience, were admiring the fun the young couple was having. Older couples even remembered a time when they were first in love as they reached to take their partners' hands to hold.

_"Young love," sighed a seventy-something young woman to her husband of fifty-two years._

However, Edward did not stop. "You have to take it back?"

Bella gasped between laughs. "Take what back?"

"What you said." Edward's eyes were truly sparkling now.

"I don't even _remember_ what I said!"

"You called me a wimp," he reminded her.

"Fine," his friend huffed. Edward stopped tickling her momentarily. "You are not a wimp. You are a big strong manly man." Bella even fluttered her eyelashes for the full effect.

"That's better," he smirked. "Now how about that sleigh ride?"

"Bella?"

"Hmm?" The said woman lazily turned away from where she was watching a rabbit hopping across a field. Her chocolate brown eyes met green ones who unbeknownst to her, were watching her rather than the scenery.

"How are you enjoying it? Are you warm enough?"

It was an hour after Edward's attack on Bella and ten minutes after beginning the chilly but beautiful ride in the sleigh. Since there was a wait for a ride, Edward and Bella put their names on the list before returning to their room for their outer layers.

Bella grinned at her companion. "I'm having a marvelous time and I'm not too cold at all."

Edward returned the grin and moved slightly closer to her.

"How about yourself?

"I'm enjoying it myself."

The silence between the would-be lovers was not necessarily uncomfortable, but both wished to find out more about the other. Unfortunately, the two seemingly well-adjusted adults found themselves to be nervous all of a sudden in each other's presence.

"So did…

"How was it…"

Both members of the party flushed as they began their inquiries.

"I'm sorry, please continue," Edward graciously offered.

"Oh," Bella blushed. "I was just asking if you always wanted to be a doctor."

Her companion contemplated a moment before answer. "I think so. From a young age, I always took an interest in what my father did. One year, my parents got me a mini medical toy set to play with, and I took it with me everywhere," he laughed.

"How cute," Bella grinned at his admission.

"So how about you? Did you always want to be a teacher?"

She shook her head, "Oh God, no. I thought I could never do it."

"Really? Why not?"

"I was never really for standing in front of a group of people."

"What changed?"

Bella shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I always knew I wanted to study English, but I didn't know what I really wanted to do with it." She paused. "Well, that's not exactly the whole truth. I always knew I wanted to write."

"Novels?"

Bella nodded at Edward's question. "People asked me why I didn't become an editor or a journalist, but I'm just not into that."

"So you chose a profession where you would have to stand in front of a group of people, which is something you hate," Edward smirked.

"Yeah, well I grew out of my shell a little during college, and I kept telling myself that they were only kids I was in front of. I actually found I loved it."

"So it all worked out fine then."

"Yep, although I find it hard to find time to write."

"Well, you have all summer," her companion reasoned.

"That's true," Bella smiled brilliantly at her friend.

Bella truly took Edward's breath away as she beamed at him. He could not help but admire how the snowflakes clung to her hair and eyelashes. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her, but he was afraid that Bella did not want that at all.

Little did he know that if he _did_ choose to kiss her at the moment, Bella would happily engage in such an activity. She noticed how handsome he looked with the snow in his hair and how genuinely interested he was in their conversation.

All too soon, the sleigh ride ended, and Edward was helping Bella out of the sleigh and back into the lodge. When they entered the common area, they were delighted to see some of the patrons gathered around singing Christmas carols.

"Would you like to join them? I can go get us some hot chocolate," Edward offered, leaning close to Bella's ear so that she could hear him over the singing. He wondered if her slight shiver was due to his proximity or from the door opening behind them.

"That sounds good," she agreed, giving him another warm grin.

Edward led Bella to an empty arm chair before heading towards where the lodge was serving mugs of piping hot chocolate.

For the next hour, the couple enjoyed singing Christmas carols and chatted with other guests. Although many people assumed that Bella and Edward were together romantically, neither spoke to correct them. After all, they thought, who would really know the truth?

Both would not even admit to themselves that they liked being thought of as a couple. For the next week or so, they could at least pretend to be as their hearts desired them to be.


	8. Chapter 8: Springtime Feelings

**Chapter 8 – Springtime Feelings**

"What the fuck…?" A rumpled Emmett squinted as he opened the door to see his cousin leaning on the doorframe with a scowl on his face.

"Bella kicked me out," he snapped.

It was three days after Christmas, and to the couples that spent time with Bella and Edward, the new relationship seemed to be developing smoothly and to the plan. Since the day that that the new couple seemed to argue relentlessly, they had been nothing but friendly and caring to each other. When they weren't around, Alice spoke hardly of anything except what a great matchmaker she was.

So it was with great surprise to Emmett to hear that Bella kicked Edward out of their room.

"What? Why?"

"Well, she didn't exactly kick me out. She told me to sleep in the bathtub."

"But why?"

"I don't know," Edward scowled. "Are you going to move your ass or make me stand out here all night?"

"Oh. Yeah," Emmett scratched his head as he moved out of the door frame. "Oh wait." He put his hand on his cousin's shoulder to stop him for a moment before calling back into his room. "Rosie, babe, better get some clothes on. We have a guest."

"Oh wow, Em," Edward rolled his eyes. "That's something I really didn't need to hear."

The larger man raised an eyebrow. "Would you rather have heard that or seen Rosie bare-assed naked?"

"Good point."

"Hey, what's going?" Rose appeared, disheveled. "Edward, why are you doing here?"

"It was either here or the bathtub. Apparently I was complaining too much about the temperature being too high in the room."

Both Emmett's and Rosalie's expressions turned to confusion as they comprehended Edward's words. Neither could fathom Bella doing something like that. But on Rose's part, confusion soon turned into suspicion. Nevertheless, she moved aside to let Edward into their room and directed him to sleep on the couch.

"Edward! You only skied the one day I hurt myself. I can't let you waste around here with me."

"I'm not wasting around, Bella. I enjoy spending time with you. Besides, it wouldn't be fun trying to ski with the lovebirds anyway."

The three days that had passed since Christmas were spent similarly to that day. As the guests returned to the slopes, it was much easier to catch a sleigh ride without waiting in line, and instead of caroling with others, they would curl up in chairs, reading, while sipping hot cocoa. A couple of times, Edward forwent reading for playing the piano.

Where as the latter activity suited Bella just fine, she could not help but wonder if it was boring Edward to tears.

"But not only that, Edward," Bella continued. "It's best if you at least go skiing today, or at least go and do your own thing. Remember we are supposed to be fighting?"

"Oh. I guess you have a point."

"I know I do," she smiled smugly.

"If I didn't know better, I would think you were trying to get rid of me." Although said in a teasing manner, a part of Edward believed his words and worried that they were true.

A look of surprise crossed Bella's face at his words. "Of course not. I'm just trying to play up this charade."

And in truth, Bella knew she much rather would have Edward with her the duration of the day than be alone. It amazed her how quickly she grew to look forward to Edward's company. It was hardly a week ago that Bella believed she would be content in relaxing by herself in the lodge. She knew, of course, that if she had never met Edward, she still would be quite happy to have alone time. Now, she could not look forward to it.

"How about this," her companion began. "I'll go skiing in the morning to make our friends think we really are fighting. After lunch, I'll make an excuse that I'm tired or something and meet you somewhere."

Inside, Bella's whole being lit up, but she fought to keep a huge smile from overtaking her face. _He still wants to spend the day with me!_

"That sounds good. What did you have in mind?"

"We'll just play it by ear," he responded. "We'll see what we're in the mood for."

Bella nodded, smiling. "Okay. Why don't we just meet back up here in the room after lunch then? We'll decide from there."

And with their after-lunch plans, the friends separated to spend their mornings apart.

"So what is going on with you and Edward, Bella?" Alice eagerly asked as she and Rose dragged their victim into the bathroom during lunch.

"What are you talking about?" Bella asked, innocently.

Alice rolled her eyes and Rose sighed.

"Give it up, Bella," The latter snapped. "There has to be a good reason why Edward interrupted me and Emmett fucking last night."

"Wow, Rose. TMI," her more timid friend drawled, only making Rosalie huff in annoyance.

"And can't you say something nice like, 'make love?'" Alice sighed with a dreamy look in her eye.

Rose practically stomped her foot in frustration. "We aren't here to debate names for having sex. We're here to force Bella to give us some information." She glared at the person of interest, almost making Bella take a step back at the intensity of her friend's expression.

"What? We were getting along fine, but he's gotten annoying." Bella crossed her fingers behind her back as she spoke. She was horrible at lying, and she knew it.

Alice pried further. "What kind of annoying?"

"I don't know," Bella shrugged. "He's clingy. And he complains a lot."

"So?" Rose had her hands on her hips, and Bella raised her eyebrows in question. "Who cares if he is annoying? It's only for the rest of this trip and as long as he's good in bed, then deal with his shit."

Immediately, Bella's face turned bright red as she looked down at her clasped hands. Both her friends stopped and stared at her, disbelief written on their faces.

"You haven't slept with him?" Alice gasped. "I thought the way that you guys can't keep your hands off of each other you surely were…"

Bella shook her head. "Guys, you know me. I don't just jump into bed with somebody I just met."

"No," Rose agreed. "But I thought you'd surely relax a little this time."

Alice was still staring with disbelief. "But, I saw him Christmas morning in nothing but…"

"That doesn't mean anything, Alice," Rose interrupted.

"What's the big deal, guys?" Bella asked. "Yeah, we got along great at the beginning, but we're just not clicking. It's okay. We can get along well enough to finish out the vacation."

Alice looked as if she could cry. "Okay, Bella. I just wish it were different."

"I wish so, too, Alice. I really do," Bella sighed, meaning something completely different than Alice thought.

"Let's go swimming."

"Swimming?" Bella asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Edward smirked at the disbelief in his friend's tone. "There's a heated indoor pool. I walked by it before I came up here and there was nobody there."

"Of course nobody was there! It's winter!"

"But it's indoors."

"But still."

"Still what?"

"Just… Still!"

Edward smirked, knowing that Bella did not have a good reason why they could not go swimming on December 28th. "Is there a real reason why you do not want to go swimming?"

Bella huffed a "no" before grabbing her bathing suit from a drawer and retreating to the bathroom to change. She found that her stomach was in knots, and the reason was not unclear to her. For some reason, swimming just felt _intimate_ in a way, especially since they were the only two of the group that were going. Bella was more than just a little shy about her body, and although she did talk Rose and Alice out of packing an itsy bitsy bikini (now Bella knew why they were so determined), the two-piece halter bathing suit would be revealing more of her to Edward than she had previously.

Bella sighed as she undressed slowly. She knew that it was silly to feel so hesitant to be in a bathing suit in front of Edward. After all, if she could wear smaller bathing suits in front of strangers, why could she not wear this bathing suit in front of a friend?

_Because you feel more towards him than friendship_, she reluctantly told herself.

This was the first time she was admitting this fact to herself. Unbeknownst to her, Edward was finally making the same admission to himself as he fought back his excitement of seeing Bella in a bathing suit of unknown quantity of fabric.

It wasn't fifteen minutes later that the friends were ridding themselves of their cover-ups while attempting to not be too obvious at ogling the other person. However, Edward could not keep from dragging his eyes up Bella's body, admiring the white, smooth skin of her legs, the womanly curves of her hips, stomach, and not to mention her breasts, and the delicate expanse of her collar bones. Last but not least, he admired her flushed cheeks as she took him in as well.

It was only a few days ago that Bella first saw Edward half-naked, but she could not help by slyly check him out again, and wonder what it would feel like if she would to caress his abdomen. She could feel her cheeks fill with blood as a result of her thoughts.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts, that she missed the mischievous smirk that grew on Edward's face and the sudden movement that found her draped over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" she screeched, in shock.

"Making sure you don't chicken out," her companion smirked as he unceremoniously dropped Bella into the deep end of the pool.

By the time she made her way to the surface, Edward had dropped himself into the water and swam to where she surfaced, sputtering to get the water out of her mouth and nose. "What was that for?"

"What was what for?" Edward asked innocently.

"Dumping me into the water. How did you know I couldn't swim?"

"If you couldn't swim, why would you agree to go to the pool with me?"

"Maybe I just wanted to stand in the shallow end."

Edward smirked and stated sarcastically, "Because that sounds like fun."

During the conversation, Bella tried desperately to not let her amusement show, but she had reached her breaking point when she saw Edward's signature smirk. First, a smile grew on her face and not a moment later, Bella was laughing heartily as she treaded water in the pool.

At the sight of joy in her eyes, Edward lost the battle of resisting reaching out to touch Bella. As she laughed, he found himself reaching an arm out to pull Bella by the waist so that their chests were slightly touching. As they were both treading water with their legs, it was very easy for their legs to brush together, and sometimes even get slightly tangled together.

At the feel of Edward's body so close to hers, Bella stopped laughing only to find Edward's warm green eyes staring down at her. He wore an express that she had seen many times during the week, but it was only at that moment that she realized what meaning that expression held; he wanted to kiss her. And she knew it wasn't to kiss her for show; obviously, none of their friends were there to witness it.

Her breath caught in her chest as Edward leaned in so closely, she could feel his breath on her lips.

"Bella?" He asked, wordlessly asking for her permission. Her response was to lean closer and close her eyes, as she waited breath for his lips to make contact with hers. It seemed like minutes, although she knew that it was only seconds, before she felt his lips touch hers briefly.

Once.

Twice.

The third time he kissed her, Bella wrapped her arms around Edward's neck, preventing him from releasing her lips again. He readily reciprocated, with wrapping his free arm around Bella's waist tightly, pulling her even closer. As he did so, he tentatively took Bella's bottom lip between his own and touched it with his tongue. He felt Bella's mouth open to the invitation, but a sudden, booming voice interrupted them.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here. Looks like somebody made up."

The couple broke apart only to find Rose and Emmett, both dressed in bathing suits, looking on with matching smirks. But with one look at Rose's smirk, Bella knew that her friend believed that something else was going on.

"Oh yeah," she grinned. "Somebody's suddenly getting a long again. Awfully weird seeing that earlier today, one somebody thought the other somebody was too clingy."

Edward looked down at a blushing Bella and raised an eyebrow. "Really? Clingy?"

Bella managed to tear her eyes away from Edward in order to face her friend again. "What can I say? We made up?"

Rose bent down to sit at the edge of the pool, lowering her legs into the water. "That's what happened last time. I don't know guys; something's up. One minute you're loving on each other, the next you're fighting, and the next you're ready to screw in the hallway. So tell me, _lovebirds,_ what's going on?"

The suspects turned to each other, silently trying to decide on what to tell Rose and Emmett. Finally Bella sighed. "It was all an act, guys."

Rose raised an eyebrow, silently asking for her to explain.

"We knew that you guys set us up," Edward explained.

"Alice, especially," Bella added.

"Really?" Emmett decided to join the conversation, sitting next to his wife on the edge of the pool. "It was that obvious?"

Edward rolled his eyes. "Jesus, Emmett. You can be the smartest guy sometimes, but other times…" he trailed off, shaking his head. "Seriously? Sticking us in the same room? What gave the plan away?"

"Anyway," Bella interrupted the cousins' discussion. "We decided to play with you guys a bit. You know, go from one extreme to the other."

"Well, it worked," Rose crossed her arms. "You don't realize how upset Alice is that you two are 'fighting.'"

"Are you mad?" Bella asked, meeting Rose's eyes.

Her friend sighed. "No, I guess I can't blame you. It was kind of an obvious set-up."

"Speak for yourself, woman. I'm quite let down. I thought Eddie here was going to finally get laid," Emmett pouted, causing his cousin to scowl, and his friend beside him to blush.

"Wait a minute, guys," Rose held up a finger. "If it's all an act, what was it that we just walked in on?"

Neither Edward nor Bella spoke. Neither knew what to say, as it was all new to them.

A smile slowly grew on Rose's face. "It worked, didn't it?"

Bella's face grew even redder, as Edward subconsciously pulled her closer with the one arm that was around her hip.

"Oh, this is precious. Alice is going to flip when she finds out what you two pulled and how it worked against you." A victorious smile was painted on the blonde's face as she pictured Alice's expression at the disclosure.

"Wait, you're not going to tell her about our plot, are you?" Bella asked.

"Well, why shouldn't I?"

"Yeah, why shouldn't we?" Emmett felt left out of the conversation as he pondered the status of his cousin's sex life. His girlfriend gave him an amused look at his purposeless statement.

"Because," Bella bit her lower lip.

"Because she deserves to be played with a little," Edward finished. "It wasn't fair to either Bella or me when she set us up. We could've hated each other."

"But you don't," Emmett clarified.

"No." Both Edward and Bella stated at the same time.

"Okay then," Rose's smile turned a little evil. Too evil for Bella's liking. "If you don't want me to spill, you've got to do something for my own amusement."

"O-o-okay," Bella replied suspiciously.

"You have to make Alice believe you guys are sleeping together."

"Oh," Bella scrunched her forehead together, wondering what was so bad about that. After all, she had to just mention a few made-up details to Alice.

"I don't think you understand, Bella."

"I don't?"

"She needs to _hear_ the evidence."

"Hear?" Bella was confused at what Rose was asking for her to do. However, Edward was catching on pretty quickly.

"You mean, we have to actually pretend…?" He asked.

"Oh yes," Rose nodded. "I want to hear vocals and the bed moving outside in the hall."

Bella wanted to sink into the water with embarrassment. In any other situation, she would find this hilarious. However, she couldn't imagine faking it with Edward by her side. "I don't know if I can do that."

"Well, it's either that, or Alice's wrath when she finds out you were playing her all along. Besides, I think I've earned this after Edward's interruption last night."

Bella sighed. "Well I guess I better brush up on that scene from _When Harry Met Sally_."

With that, Edward finally released his pent up laughter. As much as he felt bad for Bella's embarrassment, the little boy in him thought the plan pure evil genius on Rosalie's part.

"Good," Rose nodded. "Midnight, I expect you two to be going at it."

Bella could only groan as she hid her face into Edward's shoulder. _This is going to be a long night_.


	9. Chapter 9: The Burning Embers

_**Author's Note:**__ So here is a little citrus for you. This is the first time I have written anything remotely like this. I haven't written an orange or a grapefruit, never mind a lemon._

_This is coming to a close, by the way. The story ends on New Year's Day, and it's already the evening of the 28__th__. Probably only 2 or 3 more chapters, plus an epilogue._

_If you want, follow me on twitter. My name is __**chicabonita519**__ . It's just random crap I post by the way. Nothing exciting. Just a warning ahead of time: I can go on political rants at times, so if you can't stand what far right conservatives believe, then my twitter is not for you. _

_As usual, I own nothing._

**Chapter 9: The Burning Embers**

"I don't know if I can do this, Edward."

It was just ten minutes until midnight, and the two young actors were sitting against the headboard of the huge king sized bed. They were waiting for the knock from Rosalie that would indicate the proximity of Alice. That knock would be the signal for Bella and Edward to begin pretending as if they were having sex.

Shortly after Rose declared her plan, she also informed the couple that she wanted them to pretend that they still disliked each other. Rose wanted Alice to believe that Bella and Edward were having make-up sex when Alice walked down the hall to her room. What the new couple did not realize was how difficult it truly was to pretend that they disliked each other. After the shared kiss in the pool (in which both parties silently thought was the best kiss of their lives), they both felt an even stronger pull towards the other. It took much energy just to not join hands while sitting or walking.

"What your problem is," Edward began as he moved closer to Bella on the bed, "is that you are taking this too seriously."

"Too seriously?" Bella repeated, as a question.

He took her hand that sat between them and squeezed it. "Yes. Just make it fun. And channel your inner Sally."

His partner-in-crime laughed. "I guess you're right."

"Besides," Edward smirked, "don't think that I'm scared of sounding like a dumbass too."

Without a second thought, Bella reached up to chastely kiss Edward on his lips, making him grin widely. "Hey now. Don't get worked up too soon," he teased.

"I'll try not to," she grinned. Just Edward's advice to make the night fun, as well as his confession that he was a little nervous at sounding like a "dumbass" put Bella more at ease.

But in the back of her mind, she wished that they weren't just pretending.

Unbeknownst to her, Edward's cool demeanor was slightly a façade. As comical as he believed the situation to be, he could not help but want to make Bella moan himself. And the tiny tank top that showed a sliver of skin between it and her sleep pants did not help matters either.

All too soon, there was a knock on the door. Edward squeezed Bella's hand and whispered, "Ready?"

At Bella's nod of approval, Edward began, hoping to break the ice so that Bella would get into it without being embarrassed. He started with a low moan, followed by saying his companion's name.

As Edward apparently was getting used to the game, Bella began making her own sounds, starting with a "Mmm." At the sound, Edward turned his face towards her to see her eyes close and a small smirk on her face. He suddenly realized that he probably shouldn't have looked at her. Just the sight of her with her eyes closed while moaning was affecting him. He shifted, trying to become more comfortable while hoping that if Bella opened her eyes his _problem_ wouldn't be so obvious to her.

However, it was the next thing he heard that sent him over the edge.

"Edward," she groaned, still with the smile on her face.

Suddenly, the sliver of skin that was visible between her top and shorts called for his attention. Hesitantly, he reached out with his free hand to stroke her lower abdomen. His touch caused Bella's eyes to open suddenly and she gasped when she caught Edward's eyes. His pupils were so dilated, they almost seemed black.

"Edward?" she whispered.

"Bella," he responded before leaning down to take her lips in a kiss. It started off gentle enough, but it was Bella that deepened the kiss as she let her tongue wander into Edward's willing mouth. "Bella," he whispered again against her mouth before meeting her lips again.

At the sound of her name leaving his lips, Bella could not help but to reach around Edward's neck to tangle her fingers in his hair while Edward wrapped both of his arms tightly around her, pulling her body flush to his. This time, the simultaneous moans were not part of an act. His lips left hers only to find their way to her jaw and then to her neck. There, he nipped and licked his way down to Bella's shoulders, causing her to squirm in his arms. His response was to pull her closer, pressing his arousal against her thigh.

"Edward," she gasped, pulling his hair so that he looked up at her.

"Hmm?" he asked as his lips found their way back to her jaw and his hands moved to stroke her sides.

But Bella couldn't remember what she was going to say as Edward's hands stroked the sides of her breasts through her tank top. In fact, she doubted she even remembered her own name. All of a sudden, Edward's lips left her jaw and found purpose on her chest, directly above the swell of her breasts. Slowly he licked her skin along the low-cut edge of her shirt, eliciting the loudest moan yet from Bella.

Edward considered Bella's moan as permission to continue his exploration by taking her right breast into his mouth, flicking her nipple through the shirt with his tongue. Even though she only felt the sensation of his mouth through the thin cotton, it was enough for her to arch her back off the bed and closer to the man that was eliciting not only such pleasure, but deep feelings from within her.

Edward quickly resituated them so that he was now lying directly over her. As if it were a reflex, Bella opened her legs to permit him to settle against her, pressing his hardness against her core. They both let out simultaneous moans, saying each other's name.

With a hint of desperation, Bella found herself grabbing the hem of Edward's shirt, pulling upwards. He raised himself just enough to allow Bella to pull the shirt off completely before attacking her lips again. Her hands, meanwhile, immediately found themselves stroking his chest, causing him thrust against her. Bella met his thrust while crying out.

Suddenly, Edward's hands worked themselves under Bella's tank top. Breaking from Bella's lips, he whispered, "Can I?" Her response was to nod and in an instant, her top was pulled off and his lips found her nipple, while one hand palmed the other breast.

Once again, her back arched off the bed. "Uhh… Edward."

"You're so beautiful," he murmured against her breast.

As the pleasure mounted, both found themselves thrusting against each other, him hitting her exactly where she needed. Bella knew that it would not be long before the spring inside or her was compressed completely and expanded in pleasure.

It only took three more thrusts before her body tensed as the pleasure spread from her toes to her head. "Edward!" she cried out, pulling on his hair, which made Edward's orgasm follow.

"Fuck! Bella!" he shouted as he pushed against her one more time.

As they both came down from their high, Edward wrapped his arms around Bella, pulling her close once again, as their naked chests pressed against each other. Silently, they caressed each other, pressing their lips together or against the other's neck.

After a moment, Edward repositioned them so that he wasn't fully on top of Bella, without releasing his hold on her. Smiling against her hair, he asked, "So do you think we were realistic enough?"

He felt, rather than heard, Bella laugh against his chest. "I don't think there's any doubt," she smirked, looking up at him. When she met his eyes, she nearly gasped again at the feelings she saw in his eyes. She didn't see just lust, but an emotion that she could not put a name to. What she didn't know, though, was that Edward saw the same emotion in her eyes.

Suddenly, his face scrunched up in disgust, but before Bella could think it was anything she did, he commented, "I need to clean up. Don't go anywhere."

Bella watched as Edward grabbed a clean pair of boxers and made his way to the bathroom, but not before he shot his signature smirk at her. Once he was behind closed doors, she looked around for her tank top, but all she could find was Edward's t-shirt. Pulling the shirt over head, she could not help but think about what they had just done. It wasn't something she usually did after knowing somebody barely a week. She really only considered them getting to "second base," with the added benefit of getting off, but she still never went that far so soon.

But she couldn't regret what she did. She never felt so comfortable in the arms of another, nor had she felt so cared for.

Grinning, she snuggled herself into the pillow until she heard the bathroom door opening. Looking up, she saw Edward walking back towards the bed in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts. Bella couldn't help but bite her lower lip as she wondered silently, _When can we do that again?_

But her grin faded when she saw Edward's frown.

"What's wrong?"

As he climbed into bed, he immediately went to grab his shirt that was now covering Bella's body. "As much as I enjoy seeing you wear my shirt," he commented, "I'd much rather see you without it on." Before she knew it, Bella was back to being naked from the waist up. Reflexively, she went to cover herself with her arms, but Edward pulled her arms back to her sides before running a finger down her sternum, between her breasts. "You even blush all the way down here," he smiled, gazing down at her with a tender look in his eyes.

Bella rolled her eyes. "Don't remind me."

"Hmm," he murmured, reaching over to turn of the lamp beside the bed. "I think I will remind you anytime I want."

Wrapped up together, both fell into a restful sleep.


	10. Chapter 10: It Never Got this Good

_**Author's Note: **__Thank you for those who have reviewed. It means a lot to me. There is another note at the bottom…._

**Chapter 10 – It Never Got this Good**

Early the next morning, Bella found herself waking up within a warm cocoon. It only took her a moment before she realized that the warm cocoon was not only but Edward curled around her from behind. She found herself let out a quiet snort of laughter when she realized that Edward's left hand was wrapped around her right breast. The most comical part of it all was that by the soft snores coming from behind her, she knew he was still deeply asleep, so his groping most likely was a subconscious action on his part.

Wishing to see his face, Bella gently turned herself around in his arms, only causing him to pull her closer. Carefully examining his face, Bella could not help but admire his strong features and handsome face. And she couldn't forget the amazing green eyes that were currently hidden behind his eyelids. Without consciously thinking about her actions, she reached up and gently stroked his cheekbone. It was only after she witnessed Edward's eyelids flutter that she realized she could have awoken him.

Slowly, his eyes opened to settle his emerald eyes on Bella's face. A lazy smile formed on his face before he whispered, "Good morning Beautiful."

A blush spread through Bella's cheeks as she heard Edward's endearment, causing his smile to widen. "I love your blush," he commented, stroking a finger down her cheek. This comment, however, only served to make her blush deepen in the color.

In response, however, Bella leaned up to give Edward a peck on the lips, not wishing to take it any farther due to her fear that her morning breath was not so attractive. So when Edward attempted to deepen the kiss, she pulled back suddenly.

"What's wrong?" he frowned.

"Morning breath," was her answer.

"I don't care." And with that statement, Edward crushed his lips to hers and immediately asked permission to enter her mouth with a sweep of his tongue across her lower lip. Despite her self-consciousness about the state of her mouth's scent and taste, Bella willingly opened her mouth to let Edward's tongue dance with her own. Before long, the once gentle kiss turned more passionate, and they found themselves with Bella on her back and Edward half lying on her, just like the previous evening. Once again, Edward's hand found her breast and slowly started sliding down her torso. This time, however, his mouth followed as well, planting tiny kisses and nips all over her abdomen. Bella let out a gasp of surprise and pleasure when his mouth and tongue found the waist of her shorts. Edward placed his hands on her hips, and slowly slid two fingers between the waist of the shorts and her skin.

Hesitantly, he looked up to see Bella's head thrown back in pleasure and anticipation. "May I?" he hoarsely whispered. All Bella could do was nod.

But just as Edward barely moved her shorts off of her hips, there was a loud banging at the door.

"Ignore it," Bella gasped.

Eagerly, Edward took heed of Bella's demand and planted a kiss right over her center through her shorts and panties. Unfortunately, her moan was pushed to background noise as Alice's voice yelled through the door.

"I know you're in there! I can hear you!"

Defeated, Edward rested his forehead on Bella's lower abdomen as Bella muttered, "Seriously," under her breath with her arm over eyes. After all, she was 99% sure Edward was about to go down on her, and seeing how talented his tongue was while kissing her, she could only imagine how magical it would be below.

"Come on! We have appointments at the spa in a half hour!" Alice's annoying voice called through the door along with knocking.

Angrily, Bella scooted herself out of bed and put Edward's shirt on. She muttered under her breath all the way to the door, and when she opened it to Alice's smiling face, she snapped, "What?!?"

Even though Bella was blocking the opening between the door and door frame, Alice easily pushed herself in calling out, "Edward, if you are naked, you better get yourself covered because I'm coming in." Turning towards Bella, who was now standing with her arms crossed over her chest, she stated again, "We have spa appointments in a half hour, and you need to get ready!"

"What spa appointments?" her friend scowled.

"The ones I told about you yesterday." Alice rolled her eyes as if to say, "Duh!"

"You didn't tell me about any appointments."

Alice scoffed, "Yes I did."

"No you didn't. When did you supposedly tell me these plans?"

"When you were gazing wistfully at Edward over the table at dinner last night."

"I was not gazing wistfully at anybody last night."

"Yes you were. Anyway, whatever quarrel you guys were having yesterday has obviously been resolved," Alice winked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Bella tried to feign innocence.

Once again, Alice rolled her eyes. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. We could hear you two all the way down the hall."

Bella's face flushed with embarrassment at what Alice related. She knew that they didn't exactly try to keep their vocalizations at a minimum, but she didn't think they were _that_ loud.

"Anyway, I have to go get ready. _You_, missy," Alice glared at Bella, "need to be ready in twenty minutes flat. I'll drag you out of here naked if I have to."

Throughout the conversation between the women, Edward had just sat in bed comfortably with an amused smirk decorating his face. When Bella turned around still with a scowl on her face, he let out a little laugh while holding out his arms to her. "Come here, baby."

Bella willingly did as he suggested, laying herself so that she rested her head on his chest, directly over his heart.

"I take it you don't want to go to the spa."

"Not at all," she whispered, placing a chaste kiss on his chest over his heart.

Although it was a relatively innocent kiss, Edward couldn't help but react to the first time Bella placed her lips on a part of his body that wasn't his face or neck. He tightened his hold around her waist before leaning down and intimately whispering in her ear, "You can always stay here. We can lock everybody outside."

"Mmm," Bella expressed her pleasure at the idea. "You don't know how much I'd love to do that, but…"

"…But you don't want to risk Alice's wrath."

"Not at all." Bella sighed before sitting up again. "I guess I better get ready. I have no doubt that Alice would make good on her promise."

Although Edward had no desire but to keep his arms firmly around Bella, he let her go, but not before caressing her stomach under her… _his… _shirt. And as he watched Bella make her way to the bathroom, he could not help but grin in joy at the new found intimacy with a woman he knew he was falling in love with.

"So Bella," Rosalie looked slyly at her friend. "Is there anything exciting you would like to share with us?"

Alice looked eagerly towards Bella, hoping that she would relate to whatever happened between Edward and her friend. Bella could immediately see that Alice was dying inside to ask the question all morning, but for some reason, held back.

It was early afternoon, and the women had undergone all kinds of pampering; from Swedish massages to relaxing facials. Since these activities had the three ladies separated for most of the morning, Bella enjoyed a morning without any interrogation. Surprisingly, lunch passed without even a hint of what Rose and Alice heard the night before. But soon after, as the ladies sat right in a row with each of their feet relaxing in a warm bath, Rose finally asked the question that Bella knew was to come.

Bella pretended to contemplate Rose's question with a finger to her chin. "Hmm. Let me think." She paused for good measure. "No."

"Come on!" Rose complained. "We obviously know something happened. Did you get a little somethin' somethin'?"

Bella rolled her eyes, and finally decided she may as well give a little of what they were looking for. Sighing, she said, "Yes, I got a little 'somethin' somethin''" with an added emphasis of the term Rose used.

"Did you sleep with him?" Alice was practically bouncing in her seat.

"If you mean sleep with him in the most literal sense, yes, we slept in the same bed." Bella was purposely avoiding the question, knowing Rose wanted them Edward and Bella to act like they did have sex.

This time, it was Alice's turn to roll her eyes. "You know what I mean."

Bella glanced at Rose through the corner of her eye. Rose wanted Bella to confess to having sex with Edward, but since something _did_ happen between them, Bella did not necessarily believe she had to lie. With her bottom lip firmly between her teeth, she made her decision. "No we didn't have sex. We just…" Bella didn't know how to finish. What they did almost seemed juvenile; like they were back in high school and needed to get off without having any type of sex, oral or otherwise.

"What?" Alice was bouncing even more. "Oral?"

"No."

Both Rose and Alice looked at Bella, confused.

"Hands?" Rose asked.

"Nope."

Rose let out an annoyed sigh. "Then what did you do?"

Bella could feel her cheeks become warm. "Well, all we really did was make out. But we both…" she trailed off, before finishing, "finished."

Alice squealed. "You dry humped!"

"Shh!" Bella laid a hand on her friend's arm. "You don't need to announce it to the whole spa."

"So wait," Rose interrupted. "Did clothes even come off?"

"Some, but that's all I'm telling you," Bella responded. "I already feel bad that I disclosed this much. It's between Edward and myself."

"Oh come on," Alice scoffed. "You know what the guys are discussing right now, don't you? They can be just as bad as us."

Bella shook her head. "No, I trust Edward. I don't think he's the type to kiss and tell."

"I'm not telling you."

"Come on! I tell you about Rose and me."

"No, Emmett."

"Please?"

"No!"

"I'm dying here!"

"I don't care!"

On the other side of the chalet, on top of a slope, stood the men were congregated as Emmett interrogated Edward about the events the evening before. Unfortunately for Emmett, Edward was not budging with the information. Jasper, on the other hand, decided to stay out of the conversation, desiring not to upset his friend.

"At least tell me if you two fucked."

Edward rolled his eyes. "No, Emmett. We did not _fuck_."

"Fine, Pussy" Emmett sighed. "Did you _make love?_"

"No, but that's all I'm telling you."

"Please!" Emmett's voice had a whiney tone.

"No! Goodbye Emmett!" And with that, Edward started down the slope, away from Emmett and his whining.

The sound of the door closing startled Bella out of her nap. After the three friends underwent pedicures, manicures, and waxing, all three decided to return to their rooms for naps before dinner. Even though the time at the spa was relaxing, it was so much so that the ladies needed rest.

Without opening her eyes, Bella sensed that Edward had crawled into bed behind her, wrapping his arms around her torso and settling his hands on her abdomen under the shirt.

This shocked Bella so that she was fully awake. Trying to jerk away from Edward, she exclaimed, "Your hands are cold!"

He only snickered and tightened his hold so that Bella couldn't get away. "That's why I put my hands there. I needed to warm them."

"But they're cold!"

To appease her, Edward removed his hands from the skin of her abdomen and replaced them above the fabric of her shirt. However, it did not stop him from chuckling as he nuzzled his nose against her neck.

"How was your day at the spa?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"Good. I received plenty of pampering."

"Hmm. Like what?'

"You know. The usual. A massage, facial, pedicure and a manicure… and waxing." Bella turned in his arms to look slyly at her bed companion. After what almost happened earlier in the morning, Bella could not help but want for them to continue to where they had left off.

Edward, who was now visualizing exactly _where_ Bella got waxed, raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yep." Bella smiled while pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Where?" Edward found his hands sliding down to Bella's derriere.

"You know. The usual." Bella wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself even closer than they already were.

"Hmm. Can I see?" With his not-so-innocent question, he pulled her closer, letting her feel his arousal.

"Do you want to?"

All Edward could do was nod his head eagerly which reminded Bella of a little boy that just got offered a cookie. She laughed quietly.

"Well what are you waiting for?"

Before she could even blink, Edward had her shirt off and her bra unhooked. "Thank you, Lord," he muttered before connecting his lips to hers in a mind blowing kiss while pulling her bra fully off and attaching a hand to her breast, pinching her nipple.

"Edward," Bella whimpered against his lips while pulling at the hem of his shirt. "I need this off." Without a thought, Edward acquiesced to her desire and leaned away just long enough to pull his shirt off before pulling Bella back to him. At the sensation of both naked chests pressed together, they let out simultaneous moans, both trying to get as close to each other as possible.

"You don't know what you do to me," Edward breathed before moving his lips to Bella's neck and down to her collarbone.

"Oh, I think I have an idea," she whispered, gripping his back and unconsciously digging her nails into his skin; not that he minded.

As Edward nipped and licked his way between Bella's breasts, her hands replaced themselves into his hair, making Edward hum in contentment. When he reached the waist of her pants once again, her hips bucked up, giving Edward the opportunity to pull her pants off of her hips and down her legs. Bella immediately felt the need to try to cover herself, but when she looked up to see a kneeling Edward looking down at her with a look of appreciation, she immediately relaxed under his gaze.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered as he grazed his hands up her legs, feeling the newly waxed smooth skin. His gaze traveled down her body to land on her bare pussy. His hands reached her hips, and he lowered himself down and finally made contact with the part that Bella desperately desired to feel him. It only took one nudge of his nose against her clit to make her arch in the bed.

At her reaction, Edward smirked before wrapping his lips around where his nose was. Her reaction this time was a loud groan. As he continued to lip and suck at her, her hips began to gyrate and her legs wrapped around his neck, desperately trying to get closer to what giving her some pleasure. But when she felt his tongue move down to enter her, she couldn't help but cry out.

"So wet," Edward breathed against her as two fingers replaced his tongue, which went back to her clit. With one more lick, Bella screamed as she clenched around his fingers with her orgasm.

"Come up here," she gripped his hair and pulled gently on his hair. He willingly obliged, sliding up her body until his lips met hers in a searing kiss.

As she tasted herself on his lips and tongue, Bella could not help but wonder what she was doing. She was by no means a prude, but she was very careful with home she became intimate. It was a general rule that she and her boyfriends become emotionally intimate before their relationship turned to sex, and here she was with a man she had barely known a week going somewhere that took a month or more for a man to earn the privilege.

A rather sizable part of her psyche, however, told her that within a week, she became more comfortable with Edward than she ever had with any of her past boyfriends. As their kisses quickened, she knew she did not – and could not – regret anything she did with Edward.

In that moment, Bella did not even make a conscious decision to push Edward onto his back and straddle him. Immediately, she lowered herself so that she was rubbing herself on his dick that was still covered with his pants.

"Oh Bella," he panted. "I want you so much."

Leaning down, she whispered against his lips, "Then take me."

Just as quickly she had straddled him, Edward flipped her so that he was now on top. "That has to be," kiss, "the sexiest," kiss, "thing I've," kiss "ever heard." He was now grinding hard against her, but she was having none of that. Flexing her knees, she caught her toe around his pants and began to slide them down.

"Get these off now."

Edward quickly rolled off of her just long enough to remove his pants and boxers, and within ten seconds he was back on her, the tip of his cock teasing her clit. "You're sure?"

Bella looked directly into his eyes, now nearly black with desire. "I've never been so sure of anything in my life."

Without another word, he slid inside easily, both gasping at the surge of electricity they felt from their heads down to their toes. It was a connection that neither one felt before, and both stilled in order to enjoy it.

"Bella," he whispered, not knowing any appropriate words to explain how he felt. But with one look in the eyes of his lover, he knew that what he felt was shared with her.

Slowly, Bella began thrusting her hips up, hoping that Edward caught on. He did, and soon, they established a slow and steady rhythm, neither wanting to rush the experience. There had been times in the past when neither necessarily wanted to continue to gaze into their lovers' eyes, but both found that they couldn't tear their eyes away from the others. The only sounds between them were those made by their physical connection both below and at their lips, and the occasional pants and moans that escaped their lips.

They began to move faster, their skin covered by a sheen of sweat, as the coils within them began to tighten and compress.

"Bella," Edward panted. "I can't hold out much longer."

Bella tightened her legs that around his waist, kneading her hells into Edward's backside, urging him closer.

"I'm close."

"Good." Their pace picked up even more, their skin slapping with each thrust until without warning, Bella came, crying out Edward's name.

The sound of his name from his lips and the clenching of her tight wet walls was enough to send Edward into a spiral, yelling out her name with each pulse of his orgasm.

His thrusts slowed, and in exhaustion, he slid off of her to her side, pulling her close. Both missed the union, but knew that Edward's strength could only last so long. They only had enough energy to lightly stroke each other's backs while sharing kisses every now and then.

Slowly, they both drifted off, wrapped up in each other.

They never did make it to dinner that night.

_**Author's Note: **__So, I originally wasn't going to have them have sex until New Year's Eve - the night before everybody goes home, but they both told me they would like at least three days of sex. I couldn't deny them._

_Also - I didn't write in any birth control. That's because to me, writing in about condoms is as sexy as really interrupting sex to put one on. No, she's not going to get pregnant. No, neither has an STI. And yes, they used some sort of BC. Use your imagination._

_And finally, there will only be either one longer chapter or two shorter chapters left of the story, plus an epilogue. *sigh* I'm sad it's coming to an end._


	11. Chapter 11: Our Hearts Melt

_**Author's Note: Sorry this took a while! The end of the semester was crazy, and I'm finishing a 2 week break, but the first week was to get ready for family for my "fake" graduation (I "walked" but don't graduate until August).**_

_**So here is the next to the last chapter (plus epilogue). Please review! I have noticed that people continually put this story on the alert, but I don't get many reviews at all! And reviews make me happy! **_

_**Follow my inane chatter on twitter: chicabonita519**_

**Chapter 11: Our Hearts Melt**

Daylight slowly crept upon the sleeping lovers, illuminating them in almost a surreal manner. Edward was curled closely behind Bella, his arms wrapped tightly around her abdomen as he snored softly, face buried in her mussed hair. Bella, meanwhile, was slowly waking from her slumber. Smiling, she moved herself infinitesimally closer to the man that was holding her so intently.

Smiling, Bella recalled the events of the evening before; however, she could not stop a fleeting thought from entering her mind. _What did it all mean?_

She told herself she would have no regrets, but Bella was no fool. She was fully aware that sex wasn't just something physical for her. The emotions of physical intimacy always affected her. Before they even progressed past kissing, Bella _was_ feeling romantic affection towards her bed companion. Yet, she had no idea how Edward felt about her.

There was no mention of any actual affection between the two, and Bella had to admit that she was too much of a coward to express her feelings before Edward did. She had always been shy, but at this moment it pained her to feel exactly how _shy_ she actually was. Bella could not help but feel that if feelings were not shared in the next two days, she and Edward would part ways for an indefinite length of time.

With an aggravated sigh, Bella nestled herself closer to the warm body next to her and fell into a restless sleep.

o0o0o0o0o0

That afternoon, the men and ladies of the group parted ways so that the women could shop for "extra special outfits," as Alice put it, for New Year's Eve. Everybody knew, however, that it was just a ploy so that Alice could get all the gossip from Bella about her evening.

As the men watched the women depart from the lodge, Emmett and Jasper could not help but notice the longing expression Edward wore on his face as he watched Bella enter a taxi.

Slapping his cousin's back, Emmett could not help but comment, "Somebody's whipped."

Edward quickly rotated his head so he could see his cousin. "What? No. It's not like that."

Emmett raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "You're telling me it's just physical? That's not like you."

"No, I mean," Edward sighed while pinching his nose. "I don't know." Emmett and Jasper, who was quietly listening to the conversation, patiently waited for Edward to continue. "I mean, I know _I_ feel affection towards Bella, but I don't know what she feels."

"Then tell her," Jasper finally spoke, shrugging his shoulder. "If I have learned to read Bella correctly over these years, I think she feels more than physical attraction towards you, too. She doesn't casually sleep around."

Emmett nodded his head, agreeing. "I have never known Bella to have a casual sexual relationship. And besides, it's obvious from how she looks at you, that there is something there. So tell her."

His cousin shook his head. "But, just… Remember Lauren?"

"Lauren was a fucking two-timing bitch who doesn't deserve to be thought of twice," Emmett practically snarled. "You can't honestly say you miss that girl, can you?"

Edward shook his head. "Not at all. I have just become very wary of putting my heart out on the line."

"What are you, a pansy? Grow some balls and tell her" Emmett rolled his eyes and quickly changed the subject. Although he could be sensitive to a point, he was very uncomfortable with feelings, especially when talking about 'hearts being on the line.' "Come on. I'm sick of this conversation. Men aren't supposed to sit around talking about their _feelings._" The two men accompanying him smirked at Emmett's antics. "Now let's hit some slopes."

Quietly, Edward followed his two friends, left to ponder on what was to be done.

o0o0o0o0o0

"So spill," Alice declared as they walked into a boutique. "You obviously did not make it to dinner last night."

Bella's cheeks flooded with color. "We were tired."

"Uh huh," Alice stated sarcastically while Rose rolled her eyes. "You guys must have been having some really good dreams by the sounds coming from your room."

Bella knew that there was no way to deny what truly happened behind the closed hotel room door, so she busied herself looking through racks of dresses, hoping that both her friends would not push her. Unfortunately, that was too much to ask.

"So," Rose nudged Bella's shoulder with her own. "Did you finally sleep with him?"

Her friend sighed and nodded. She knew from prior experience that it was best to give in, or else her friends would be relentless.

"How was it?" Alice wiggled her eyebrows.

Without saying a word, a grin unwillingly formed on Bella's face, giving her true feelings away to her friends. They did not need to ask twice to know what her response would be if she had voiced it.

The two friends relented for a period of time as they shuffled through clothes, occasionally removing a piece of clothing to set aside to try on. Even the clothes that Alice and Rose set aside were for Bella, though. Both had come to the conclusion that although they had packed Bella's suitcases themselves, she did not have anything suitable to knock Edward off his feet for the New Year's celebration. They both determined that by time they left in two days time, there would exist a permanent relationship between Bella and Edward.

Finally, Rose asked the question that was burning in both her and Alice's minds. "So did you guys talk about what will happen after this trip?"

With these simple words, the thoughts of that morning flooded back into Bella's mind. No matter how much she tried to focus on the here and now, she knew that when she and Edward parted ways, she desired to maintain some sort of relationship. However, no sort of relationship was even alluded to.

Letting her hair fall forward to hide her face, Bella simply shook her head in the negative.

Alice was not satisfied with the head gesture and immediately asked, "Why not?"

Bella sighed. "I don't know. Edward has not expressed any feelings towards me. For all I know, this could just be a physical attraction that we could not hide from."

Rose sidled up to her friend, giving her a one armed hug. "But what do you feel?"

"I don't know exactly," she shrugged. "I feel _something_. I've never felt such an intense attraction to anyone else, and it's not just physical."

"Why don't you tell him?" Rose asked.

Bella shook her head. "I don't want to risk ruining the next days."

Alice raised an eyebrow. "But you'd rather risk the loss of a relationship that could be _the one_?"

"It's unrealistic, guys," Bella sighed. "I'm in Seattle, and he's in Illinois."

"But for only three and a half years more," Alice pointed out. "If things work out, he could always do his internship and residency in Seattle."

"I couldn't ask him to move halfway across the country. Besides, aren't we jumping ahead of ourselves here? Look at him! He's beautiful, intelligent, caring. Now look at me!" Bella extended an arm as if showcasing herself.

"Look at you?" Rose asked incredulously. "You mean look at the beautiful accomplished intelligent woman who deserves a beautiful, intelligent, caring man?"

"You know we are on different playing fields."

"Excuse me?" Alice demanded, arms akimbo. "You really need to get your vision checked, hun."

"Whatever," Bella shook her head. "It'll never work out."

"Yeah, whatever, Debbie Downer," Rose rolled her eyes. "If you just want to let a wonderful man out of your life, that's up to you. Don't come crying to me, though."

Alice elbowed Rose roughly in the stomach, but as Rose went to argue Alice about what she said, Bella just wordlessly moved on to a new rack of clothes, trying to forget all her troubles.

o0o0o0o0o0

"The ladies are back!" Emmett boomed from the sofa he was sitting on in one of the public areas of the lodge. Standing up, he met Rose with a big hug and a loud kiss on her cheek before eagerly peeking into one of her shopping bags. "Did you get something for me, babe?"

Jasper and Edward greeted Alice and Bella, respectively, in a much more subdued manner. As Edward met Bella at half the distance originally between them, he shyly took her unoccupied hand to pull her closer. Kissing her chastely on the lips, he murmured, "Hey."

"Hey yourself," Bella replied, stepping even closer. "Did you boys have fun without us women?"

Edward smirked. "Not so much as I would've had with you." As always, Bella's cheeks filled with a beautiful pink color. At the sight of it, Edward reached to tenderly brush her cheek with his free hand. "I love this."

His compliment only served to have the blush grow brighter as Bella vehemently commented, "You wouldn't if you had to deal with it."

Her lover's eyes twinkled with mirth at her comment. "Well, it wouldn't be nearly as endearing on my face as it is on yours."

"Oh really?" Bella raised an eyebrow as she raised herself on her toes to give Edward another kiss. However, just as their lips were about to touch, a clearing throat stole their attention.

"We're going back to our rooms," Jasper explained. "We'll just meet outside our doors as usual for dinner."

"That is, if you're coming," Alice winked, this time causing a blush to actually appear on Edward's cheeks.

"We'll be there," Bella quickly replied.

As the two other couples parted ways, Edward looked down at Bella asking, "Well, what did you want to do?"

She shrugged. "I'm actually kind of beat. Going shopping with those two is always an adventure."

Stepping back from her, Edward smirked. "Let's then rest back in our room then. I have an idea."

Curious, Bella asked what his idea was, but was promptly told it was a surprise. For the duration of the ride on the elevator, Bella refrained from asking again, but as soon as they were through their room's door, she asked again.

"Just shh," Edward smirked, pulling her into the bathroom. "It's nothing bad. Just sit here," he demanded as he raised Bella up to sit on the counter. Once she was seated, he turned to fill the over-sized bathtub with warm water and bath bubbles. Once again facing her, Edward explained, "A good bath will do you good," while slowly unbuttoning Bella's blouse.

"Oh really?"

He nodded. "After such a long hard day of shopping, you need to rest from your feet."

"Hmm. I can't complain."

"You shouldn't," he whispered leaning in to give Bella a gentle kiss before removing the remainder of her clothing. "Now come," he requested, assisting Bella off of the counter and to the bathtub.

"That's what she said," Bella smirked.

It was an overused joke, but Edward could not stop himself from laughing heartily. Although Bella had shown her lightheartedness through the vacation, he had yet to experience Bella in her most relaxed state. Her simple joke allowed Edward to see a little more into her personality that only shined around loved ones. "Oh Bella, I could never guess what will come out of your mouth."

"I try to keep it a mystery," Bella winked as she lowered herself into the warm water. "Oh, this is a godsend." At the sight of Edward leaning against the counter she asked, "Are you not joining me?"

He shrugged. "I just intended for you to relax, but I'll be more than happy to accompany you."

"Well what are you waiting for then?" Bella gave him an expectant look.

Swiftly, Edward removed his clothing and settled himself behind Bella, pulling her closely to him. "Mmm. This_ is_ a godsend."

"Even better now that you are with me."

At such an honest statement, Edward pulled her even closer and buried his nose in her hair, losing himself in her fresh scent. He could not help but wonder if it was a good time to address the meaning of their current affair. He had certainly taken Jasper's and Emmett's advice to heart, but he could not imagine what would happen if she refused him.

_And ruin this perfect moment if she does not feel the same way? I don't think so._

Inwardly, Edward sighed at his cowardice. He knew there was something he could say, though, that would show Bella that he trusted her.

"Bella?"

"Hmm?" she murmured with her eyes closed and head relaxed on his shoulder.

"There is an explanation I think I owe you."

Her eyes opened showing her concern in her eyes. "What is it?"

"Remember the first night here when we were talking why waiting to fall asleep?"

"Yeah." She thought back to that first awkward day when they realized they were set up by Alice and decided to extract some revenge on their friend. "Why?"

"Well, when we began to talk about my parents, I shut down and hardly spoke to you the next morning."

"I remember." Bella tilted her head up to gaze at his face. "What's this about?"

"I'm sorry to have reacted that way. You didn't deserve that treatment." Edward clenched his jaw and looked away from the woman in his arms.

"Hey," Bella whispered, gently turning his chin to look back at her. "I need no explanation. You are allowed to mourn for your parents."

Edward let out a heavy sigh. "The problem is, I should've been dead too." Bella's expression turned from concerned to curious and back again, so he continued, "I was supposed to go to a charity ball with them as well, but I lied to get out of it. I told them I was sick. Mom wanted to stay home to take care of me, even though I was eighteen and fully capable to take care of myself for the evening. I finally convinced them to go without me, and the next thing I know there is a cop at my door."

"Oh Edward," Bella turned fully to face him on his lap. "You can't feel guilty about that," she whispered, tracing his lips with a finger.

He kissed the finger and responded, "Rationally, I _know_ this. But it still gets to me, and anytime somebody brings up their death, I retreat back into myself, only to relive that night over again. I should've never taken it out on you that next morning."

In response to Edward's confession, Bella did not know what to say or to do except to take him in her arms and hug him closely. Softly, she pressed her lips to his neck, but only in a comforting manner.

Neither knew how long they stayed like that, entangled together in the water, but eventually Edward had to break the spell. Pulling back slightly, he murmured, "Come, the water is cooling, and I don't want you to catch a chill."

Without a word, the couple moved from the bathtub to the shower stall, where they lovingly washed each other, both knowing that the connection already forged between them had grown even stronger.

But they only had just over thirty-six hours to acknowledge it.


	12. Chapter 12: Now It's Time for Us to Go

_**Author's Note:**__ Sooo... Yeah, not going to give an excuse... but... I DID pass my nursing boards! I'm now an RN! Now I just need a job._

_Sorry this took so long, but here's a recap of the last chapter: Edward and Bella told their friends (separately) about their feelings and fears of leaving each other, and Edward confesses to Bella that he was supposed to be with his parents the night they died._

_So here is the final chapter. Reviews make me happy :)_

**Chapter 12: Now It's Time for Us to Go**

Knowing that since it was New Year's Eve and the possibility of retiring late was great, the group of friends decided to forego breakfast together in order to allow themselves as much rest as possible. Despite the occasion to sleep through the morning, Edward was woken up early by insistent kisses on his chest. Not so soon after, Bella collapsed on top of him as Edward stroked her spine gently.

"Wasn't it your idea to sleep in?" he half chuckled.

Bella lifted her head and smiled cheekily at him. "Why else do you think I wanted the opportunity to be alone?" She stroked a finger along Edward's jaw bone. "Why? Are you complaining that you didn't get to sleep more?"

Reaching up softly to kiss her on her lips, he whispered, "Nope. Not complaining at all. In fact, if you want to 'sleep in,'" Edward made quotation signs in the air, "I'm all for it."

Bella giggled as she rolled off his chest and sat up. "We could 'sleep' later. Right now I'm starving. I must have worked up an appetite."

"Mmm," Edward murmured, kissing his way up her spine until he reached her neck, causing her to slightly moan. "We can order room service."

"I don't think we'd ever make it out of this room then."

"Once again, I'm not complaining," he responded, peppering kisses up and down her neck.

Laughing happily again, Bella jumped out of the bed and headed to the bathroom. "Come on, sex fiend. We have to enjoy our last day here."

Grumbling, Edward stood to follow her. "I thought my plan was rather enjoyable," he pouted before sneaking up to her and smacking her derriere. Bella jumped and squeaked before running into the bathroom and shutting the door just as Edward reached it.

"Come on! That isn't fair!"

"I don't trust you!" she chuckled and yelled through the door. "If you come in here, we _really_ won't leave the room!"

Edward pretended to pout, "Fine. Whatever." But as he went in search of clothes, he could not keep the smile from his face.

oOoOoOoOo

After breakfast and going on yet another sleigh ride, this time with a lot less attention towards nature, and a lot more towards each other; the couple met the others, who had just emerged from their rooms, for a midday meal. After Alice and Rose discussed their enthusiasm for the night ahead, the discussion inevitably headed towards the plans for departure the next day.

"Edward, what time does your flight leave?" Alice asked, knowing that he was the only one flying alone. Since Bella, Alice, Rose, Jasper, and Emmett were all returning to Seattle, they were all flying together unlike the flight to Tahoe. Edward, of course, was heading back to Chicago to begin his second semester in med school.

"10:45," he replied, his voice constricting at the thought of being separated from Bella. To everybody else, though, it seemed a casual answer with no hesitance at all.

"Well, our flight leaves at 11:10, so we might as well go to the airport together," Alice suggested, bouncing happily in her seat.

Bella was quiet, trying to ignore the happy pixie as she concentrated on her meal. It seemed to her that Edward answered without any hesitation. She sighed inwardly as she took a bite of her chicken sandwich. _He's just ready to go on with his life,_ she thought dejectedly. _Like he never met me at all_.

She knew she was starting to sound melodramatic and she was feeling sorry for herself, but she also could not help the tears that prickled her eyes. Blinking rapidly, she glanced around the table to make sure that no one saw her near breakdown. Once she knew she had her tears under control, she joined in the conversation, which had moved to the group's plans for skiing after lunch.

Edward was hesitant to join in the plans with Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper since Bella's ankle still had not completely healed. As the group walked out of the restaurant and back to their rooms, Edward was voicing his reluctance to leave Bella.

"Go on," Bella urged, grabbing his hand underneath the table. "This is the last day you have to enjoy the slopes, and you've been ignoring them for me."

"But…" Edward opened his mouth to object, but was cut off when Bella placed a finger over his mouth.

"No buts. I'm a big girl; I can entertain myself. I'll probably just grab a book and read in the library."

"Are you sure?"

Bella rolled her eyes and pushed him towards the elevators. "I mean it. Go!" She ordered, giving him a grin.

"Fine. I'll find you when we're done," he replied, giving Bella his crooked smile that she loved so much.

"Whatever. Shoo!"

As Edward and the rest of the group headed towards the elevators so that they could grab their ski jackets and other equipment, Bella made her way to the two-story library that the chalet housed. She took some time to meander around the perimeter, attempting to decide which book she would read. Knowing that she only had a couple of hours at most, barely enough time to finish reading a short book, she settled upon one of her favorite books since high school. Grabbing _Wuthering Heights_ from the shelf, she made herself comfortable in one of the huge armchairs that inhabited the huge room.

Bella attempted to immerse herself in the land of Catherine and Heathcliff, but to no avail. All that she could think about was the short time she had left with Edward and the nonchalant way he talked about his flight home.

_Home_, Bella inwardly sighed. Normally Bella could not wait to return home after a long vacation, but the thought of leaving the chalet… of leaving _Edward_… had her stomach in knots. Rationally, she knew that she hardly knew Edward, but it seemed as if they had known each other for years, not just a week and a half. Bella wasn't even a person who believed in anything remotely to "love at first sight;" however, she could not dismiss the connection she knew existed between the two of them.

Sighing, Bella closed the book in her hands as she realized she would not be able to read that afternoon. As she remembered the joy she felt in the past couple of days, her eyes closed, picturing Edward in her mind. It wasn't just the sex that made her smile inwardly, but it was the image of his crooked smile, his sparkling green eyes, and the feeling of his arms around her. She didn't try to block these images. No, Bella understood that she needed to process the images in her memory in order to recall them later.

It was with these pleasant thoughts that Bella fell asleep in the chair.

oOoOoOoOo

"Bella."

Bella wrinkled her nose at the light touch against the cartilage.

"Beeeeelllla," the velvety voice continued right next to her ear. Again, she felt the sensation against her nose. Moaning, Bella swatted at the offending object, only to come across somebody's face. Opening her eyes slowly, she found herself very close to the object of her affection, who was currently giving her an Eskimo kiss.

"What's going on?" she breathed, overcome by the closeness of Edward who was kneeling before her in front of the armchair.

"Mmm. Nothing," he leaned in to give her a chaste kiss on the mouth. "We just got back from skiing and I came to find you." Edward leaned back on his knees and continued, "And apparently you _only_ have three hours left to get ready for dinner," he emphasized the "only" with a roll of his eyes.

"Alice?"

"Alice." Edward looked down at the book that Bella still gripped in her lap. "_Wuthering Heights?" _Edward raised an eyebrow.

"It's one of my favorites," she answered, bringing it closer to her body as if to show her attachment to the book.

Edward looked thoughtful as he hummed deep in his throat.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"That wasn't nothing," Bella huffed, aggravated that Edward may have been criticizing her favorite novel.

Bella's companion shrugged. "I guess I never really loved the book. I could not relate to the characters; there is just not one redeeming quality of Catherine or Heathcliff."

Bella raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't you say that their love _is_ their redeeming quality?"

"One could say that, but one could argue that people like them cannot even know what true love means."

"Maybe you're just not a romantic person, Mr. Cullen," Bella smirked.

Edward was silent for a moment before he leaned close to Bella. She subconsciously leaned close as well, anticipating a kiss, but Edward stopped short of her lips. "Believe me, Ms. Swan, I can be romantic when I very well want to be."

Bella swore she could practically taste Edward on her lips as his breath caressed her face, almost hypnotizing her. When he suddenly stood up, she jerked in shock at his absence in her personal space, causing him to smirk down at her.

"Come on, Sleeping Beauty," he cooed, taking her hands. "Time to hand you over to Alice before she starts blaming me for not having enough time to get ready."

Taking his offered hands, Bella stood and went to put her book away. Taking his hand again, she led Edward out of the library muttering, "God help us all."

oOoOoOoOo

Dinner and the remaining evening passed in the midst of food, dancing, and champagne. The resort held a New Year's Eve party, complete with a full-course meal, live band that played big-band favorites, and free bubbly. It was no surprise that the majority of the guests that were of age took advantage of the fun night without needing to leave the cozy building to venture out into the cold.

Although the group of friends stayed near each other during the whole evening, the couples tended to stay to themselves, especially Edward and Bella, who hardly stopped holding hands or having their arms around each other all night. Both of them felt as if they needed to cling to each other to prevent the next day from dawning.

Despite Bella's protests about her clumsy feet and an ankle that was still healing, Edward managed to persuade her to dance for the last few minutes before midnight.

"Edward! Seriously!" Bella laughed as Edward dragged her to the dance floor. "I'm going to end up hurting everybody around us!"

"I won't let you," he smirked picking her up just enough to settle her feet upon his toes. "Trust me."

Bella wanted to object, but even as she wondered how Edward could dance with her standing on his toes, the way she felt when he pulled her closer silenced her words. All she could do was wrap her left arm around Edward's waist, and take his offered hand with her right. And as the classic song "The Way You Look Tonight" floated around the room, so did Edward and Bella.

"Have I told you lately how beautiful you are?" Bella's breath hitched as she felt Edward's breath caress her shoulder before his lips met the curve of her neck.

"Only about a hundred times," she smiled, turning her head to kiss his cheek. "And have I told you how handsome you are tonight?"

Edward grinned against her skin. "Only a couple of times less than I have."

Indeed they made a striking pair; she, dressed in a deep wine-colored silk dress that dipped into a V to give just the hint of cleavage, and he, dressed in a classic fit black suit and a tie to match her dress. More than a couple of the party-goers stopped to appreciate the fine couple, but Bella and Edward were oblivious to all those around them.

The rest of the dance was spent in comfortable silence, both just enjoying the time spent in each other's arms. As the song came to an end, timed perfectly for the beginning of the 20 second countdown, the couple stilled, but remained with their arms around each other, embracing in a hug. It wasn't until the countdown reached five that Bella looked up to meet Edward's green gaze.

_Three._

"Happy New Year, Edward."

_Two._

"Happy New Year, Bella."

_One._

As cheers, applause, and whistles exploded through the room, Bella met Edward halfway from a gentle kiss that quickly escalated to where tongue met tongue and hair was being tangled between eager fingers. Their bodies were pressed against each other until they could feel everything, and small moans escaped as lips were sucked and nipped.

When Edward did not think he could take any more, he quickly pulled back. With a hoarse voice, he whispered, "Upstairs?"

His companion did not even bother to answer him; she only took a hold of his hand and started pulling Edward towards the exit.

"What about the others?" Edward was able to gather his thoughts enough to remember their friends.

"They'll figure it out," Bella answered quickly while continuing to push the elevator button to take them to their floor.

In Bella's ideal world, nobody would follow them into the elevator, where she would have attacked Edward against the wall, but alas she was not so fortunate. Instead, they spent the short ride in the corner, her back pressed against his front. Edward's hands almost painfully gripped her hips, but the sensation of Edward's arousal against her back only made the pain pleasurable. With a small smirk she pressed back against her lover and wiggled her hips just enough to tease Edward.

Her goal was achieved as Edward groaned. Leaning forward to whisper in her ear, he warned with a hiss, "If you'd rather not have me fuck you right in front of all these people, you better watch yourself."

Although Edward attempted to sound at least a little menacing, Bella's response was a low moan and another wiggle against him.

"Fuck," he hissed, not able to keep himself from thrusting against her.

Fortunately, the elevator arrived at their floor, and Edward barely had the mind to excuse Bella and him as he dragged her out of the elevator. The short walk to their room was tense and full of electricity between them, and by time Edward fought with the keycard and opened the hotel room door, they were both panting in excitement.

Within a second, Bella had Edward backed up against the door, pressed up against him as her lips met his in a passionate kiss. Nips and licks were not interrupted as Bella impatiently pushed Edward's suit jacket off of his shoulders and loosened his tie.

"God Bella," Edward groaned as she unbuttoned his shirt with her lips sucking at his adam's apple.

"Hmm," she moaned, licking her way to the spot behind his ear. As she was occupied with driving him crazy with her lips, he took advantage of her preoccupation. Placing his hands just below her butt, he lifted her up and without ceremony, slammed her back against the wall, grinding his bulge into the heat between her legs.

Bella threw her head back, moaning, as Edward continued to grind against her and reach to her back to lower the zipper of her dress and undo the snaps to her strapless bra. Roughly, he tore the straps down her arms, exposing her very erect nipples. His mouth attached to her left one as his deft right hand began massaging her other.

If Bella was in her right mind, she would have been embarrassed about the sounds coming from her throat. But as it was, the way Edward was making her body feel, she could care less who heard her. _Any woman would just be jealous to be where I am_.

"Edward," she panted, rubbing her hands through his hair. "I want you."

"Want me how?" he asked and then bit her nipple.

"Fuck," she groaned. "Inside me."

His right hand slowly made its way over her hips and then under the skirt that was bunched at her waist. "Want me here?" he questioned, but as his hand went to cover her sex, he was shocked to find nothing but wetness. "Jesus, Bella. You had no panties on all this time?"

"Maybe," she smirked.

Suddenly, his lips slammed back onto her own as she hurriedly reached down to undo his belt and buttons.

"Get these pants off," she demanded as Edward hurriedly lowered the fabric of his pants and boxers. With their hurried actions, he could only get his pants down to the middle of his thighs.

"Well, shit, this is good enough, he mumbled.

With a quick lift of her ass, he slipped into her wetness. The atmosphere as he did so changed, though, and instead of pulling out to thrust again, they remained still as they gained into each other's eyes, each trying to express the words that they did not have the courage to do so out loud. Kissing Bella's lips softly, Edward finally pulled out slowly and entered her again without hurrying.

Burying his face in Bella's neck, he continued to thrust slowly, but steadily. The only sounds in the room were the pants and occasional moans from the two lovers. However, as Edward and Bella both headed towards their perspective climaxes, Edward could do nothing but speed up, and soon the moans became louder and their skin slick with sweat.

Bella felt the familiar coil tighten as pleasure ransacked her body. As Edward's mouth left a slick trail back down to her nipple, she knew she was getting closer to her orgasm. A sudden nip to her nipple tipped her over the edge as she began to buck herself against Edward. The spasms around his dick were enough to cause Edward to follow, yelling out her name.

As their breathing began to even out, Edward carried Bella to the foot of the bed, where he gently sat her down. He slowly pulled the dress off of Bella before ridding himself of his own clothes before lifting her again to lay her under the covers. He quickly joined her, pulling the covers around them.

They lay there, gazing at each other, with their hands clasped between them.

It was like that they fell asleep.

oOoOoOoOo

"So nothing?"

"Nope."

"Not even a 'Hey, I enjoyed banging you?'"

"Nope."

"But an email address?"

"Yes." Bella sighed and leaned back in the airplane seat with a book in her hand. "Can we just leave it Alice? It was a fling, and nothing else. We had a good time, now it's over."

"But, but.." Alice practically whimpered. "I thought there was something real between you two."

"Yeah, well it's not, seeing that it was just a ploy to make you think that your plan worked?"

Alice didn't even try to deny the plan to set Bella and Edward up. She just frowned, a look of concentration on your face. "So you weren't really sleeping with each other?"

Bella snorted. "Oh, we were, but we definitely overplayed the feelings part."

"Oh."

"Now if you don't mind, I would like to just relax and sleep."

"Okay," Alice sighed. "I just don't…"

"Alice," Bella raised her voice a little. "Just leave it. It was _nothing_. It was fun, but now it's back to the real world."

This time, Alice did adhere to her friend's wishes and pulled out her iPod to drown out her disappointed thoughts.

But with her eyes conveniently in a magazine, she missed the tears that silently rolled down Bella's cheeks.

_**AN: **__*ducks and covers* … But follow me on twitter: chicabonita519_

_And epilogue to follow!_


	13. Epilogue: I Hate Christmas Parties

_**Author's Note: **__So this is it... the Epilogue. Don't kill me._

_Song that it's named after is "I Hate Christmas Parties" by Relient K._

**Epilogue: I Hate Christmas Parties**

_One Year Later_

_I hope it snows this week,  
A snow flake on your cheek  
Would make this Christmas so beautiful.  
But that would just bring the pain  
Cause things can't stay the same  
These holidays won't be wonderful_

Bella sighed as she straightened her skirt and entered the bar. It was lit up for the holidays and everybody around her were wearing Santa hats and talking animatedly while sipping on eggnog. The previous year, Bella was as festive as the rest of her co-workers. School had just been released for the winter holidays and Christmas was right around the corner.

But after last year's party, Bella took off with her friends to Tahoe, and there she fell in love with Emmett's cousin. She sighed again, thinking about Edward.

Bella could kick herself for letting the thought of Edward bring her down. She only knew him for a week and a half, and no man should be the reason for not enjoying Christmas. Not for Bella, at least.

"Bella!" She turned her head to see the tall pretty brunette approach her followed by a shorter brown-haired man. Immediately, she plastered a fake smile on her face to greet her friends.

"Angela! Ben! Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas!" Angela returned, throwing her arms around her friend. "Come on, there is someone I want to meet," she continued, pulling Bella by the hand towards the back of the bar.

"Who?"

"The replacement for Janean." Janean was an English teacher at the district's high school who left for maternity leave. It was highly suspected, though, that she was not to return even after the leave was over, wishing to be a stay-at-home mother. All the employees at school knew that whoever was hired for the six weeks was probably permanent.

"Anybody we know? A sub?"

Angela shook her head, "No. Nobody who has worked here before." Angela finally stopped in front of a tall man. He had a boyish face, with curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

_Hmm. Kind of cute,_ Bella thought as she appraised him.

"Bella, this is Mike. Mike, this is Bella," Angela introduced, smiling slyly while looking back and forth from one to another.

Mike held out his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Bella."

Bella blushed as she took his hand to shake it. "Likewise."

It was in Mike's face that Bella finally had hope that she could get over Edward.

Eventually.

CtR

Edward was starting to question why he asked Tanya to accompany him to the Christmas party. All she did was cling to his arm and talk his ear off. The thing was she was beautiful – and actually, brilliant.

But she was not Bella.

Emmett reminded him almost weekly that he had no right to brood over her. _He_ was the one that left her with nothing but an email address. _He_ was the one who did not have the courage to tell Bella how he really felt. And now it was _he_ that felt the consequences. Even though he fished for information about Bella, Emmett refused to tell him anything. After all, Edward had made the choice when he left on New Year's Day.

Now he was making small talk with his fellow students, giving everybody fake smiles while trying to ward off Tanya's advances. He was not in the mood to celebrate the holiday that brought so many bittersweet memories back of the previous year. However, he knew that it was unfair to Tanya to cut short her time when she was enjoying herself.

So out of obligation, he stayed, and when he dropped Tanya off at her home that night, he respectfully declined her invitation to come in to her apartment. Instead of catching a taxi, he took the long walk home in the cold, hoping that it would numb the pain.

As he climbed into bed that night, all he could think was _I hate Christmas parties._

_I look under the tree,  
But there's nothing to see  
Cause it's a broken heart that you're giving me._

I can't figure you out;  
Is this what Christmas is all about?  
Cause it's a broken heart that you're giving me.

**End Part I**

_**AN: **__Who DOESN'T feel sorry for Edward? Raise your hand!_

_So I lied. This isn't the end. Stay tuned for Part II, which is not yet named. I'm thinking of "Fool Me Once" or just "Part II" (because there's a Brad Paisley song named that which goes along perfectly)._

_And as always... you can follow me on twitter. Although I'm a little nuts. chicabonita519_


	14. Part II: Prologue

_**Author's Note: **__Well here it is, the beginning of Part II. _

**Part II**

**Fool Me Once, Fool Me Twice**

_Hollywood never fails to make a sequel  
For each and every movie that does well.  
Why can't love be more like that?  
Where the best ones get a second chance?  
And that way though you're gone,  
It wouldn't be that long_

_'Til I'd see you _

_in part two,  
And we'd pick up where we left off  
When I lost you.  
And we'd fall in love again,  
And change the way the story ends;  
Yeah, we'd bring back me and you  
In part two_

Brad Paisley – Part II

**Prologue – Movin' On**

_I keep telling myself I'm movin' on,  
But I'm stumbling.  
Believin' my heart was strong enough  
And now I'm wanderin'.  
But every step I take that leads me away  
Just circles back to your door -  
Wishin' I didn't love you anymore._  
Sugarland - Wishing

Bella slowly picked a tune on her guitar, contemplating a decision she should have made a few hours ago. Playing the guitar was always a soothing exercise for Bella. The fact that she played was not necessarily a secret, but it was a fact that only her closest friends knew. She didn't want to draw attention to herself and her natural talent.

But her guitar was the first thing to come out of her closet when she had something important to ponder. This time it was her answer to Mike's question. Did she want to go on a date with him?

"Argh!" Bella exclaimed, slapping her hand against the instrument. There was only one thing stopping her, and that thing resided halfway across the country. He didn't deserve a second thought, and yet here Bella was thinking of turning Mike down because of a _fling_ she had over a year ago.

It was ridiculous! She knew that she was partly to blame; after all she _did_ have his email address. But that was exactly it – it was only an email address. Now, a year later, it would be strange to contact him after all this time. Not to mention, that if Edward _really_ wanted to contact her, he could have always asked Emmett for a phone number.

Sighing, Bella began the song over.

No, it was time to move on, and Mike was the perfect one to do so with. She already considered him a friend, and he was intelligent, funny, and handsome. He and Bella could discuss literature for hours, even if their tastes did differ drastically. But that's what made their discussions so interesting. Not to mention, he was close with his family, and he was definitely a man he could bring home to her parents.

Yes, Mike was definitely somebody she could see herself with in the future.

Setting the guitar aside, she picked up her cell phone and dialed one of the numbers in her memory.

"Hey Mike? It's Bella. I would love to take you up on that offer."

FMO

**_Three and a half years later_**

_The world has turned and left me here  
Just where I was before you appeared  
And in your place an empty space  
Has filled the void behind my face_  
Weezer – The World has Turned and Left me Here

"Thank you, thank you very much," Edward said before pressing end on the phone. With a smile on his face, he looked up his cousin's phone number and pressed send.

"Hey douche," his cousin answered. "What's up?"

"I got in!"

"Seriously? Man, that's awesome!"

"I know. I was worried for a while, but I just got off the phone with the hospital. I'll be the newest resident at the children's hospital in a matter of a couple of months."

"And the newest resident of Seattle, no less," his cousin added. "Two Cullen boys wreaking havoc again!"

Edward chuckled, "It'll be good to be around family again."

"No shit, cuz. Let me know if you need anything. I can help start staking out apartments if you want."

"That would be great," Edward agreed. "I better get going; I want to call your parents and let them know."

"Oh man, Mom's gonna freak out."

"I know. Aunt Esme has been pestering me to move there for years. But anyway, I'll talk to you later, all right?"

"Yeah. See ya Edward."

"Bye."

As Edward moved to call his aunt and uncle, he could not help but smile to himself. It would be great to be near family again.

Now if he could only ignore the voice inside him that kept mentioning a certain petite brunette.

_**AN: **__Follow me on twitter chicabonita519 for song teasers (and some real ones too)_


	15. Chapter 1: 6 in 10

Hey all! Sorry about the delay. Between applying for jobs, taking care of my niece, Thanksgiving, and then getting sick, not much writing got done. But here's the next chapter with a little cliffie ;)

In case you are wondering about the title of this chapter, look at the song lyrics.

Stephanie Meyer owns all. I own lots of wine. I'm not complaining, of course.

Follow me on twitter: chicabonita519 I don't have many followers and I judge my worth by popularity :-p

**Chapter 1 – 6 in 10**

_Imagine now, the pilot's voice,  
On the intercom right before we leave the ground,  
Sayin', folks thanks for flyin' with us, but there's a 6 in 10  
chance we're goin' down._

But that's the strangest thing about this emotion,  
Even knowin' our chances are small.  
We line up at the gate with our tickets,  
Thinkin' somehow we're different,  
I mean, after all...

We're in Love, Look at us go,  
Now what in the world could go wrong?  
To hell with the odds, we'd rather not know,  
If love was a plane, Nobody'd get on.

"If Love Was a Plane" – Brad Paisley

With a loud "thunk," the Volvo's trunk closed and Edward sighed in relief before heading towards the driver's seat. Everything was packed and already heading to Seattle, where it would be unloaded in the apartment Alice picked out for him. He didn't care much about the apartment's appearance; just that it was in his budget and not too far from the Children's hospital where he was about to start his residency.

When deciding whether or not to drive to the west coast or ship his car and fly, Edward took in account the last days of freedom he truly had before his residency began. He knew that he was lowest on the totem pole in terms of hospital hierarchy, and there would be plenty of 36 hours shifts ahead of him. So he packed up the only luxury he allowed himself from his inheritance and planned a three to four day road trip to his new home across parts of the country he had never seen before.

As time passed between making his decision to accept the residency in Seattle and the day he was set to leave his hometown, Edward knew that he had made the correct decision. The only family he knew well was Emmett and his parents who lived in Forks, about three hours outside of Seattle. There was a hospital in Forks, but it was not conducive to the field he wanted to work in.

Turning his music on loudly, Edward backed out of his driveway and onto the main road. His mind went on auto-pilot, however, as he thought of the small town his Aunt Esme and Uncle Carlisle lived in.

It wasn't just Emmett that grew up there. His long-term girlfriend, Rosalie hailed from there, as well as her two best friends, Alice and Bella. Even Jasper had attended high school with them, where he met Alice.

Edward sighed, this time in exasperation. He knew he made the biggest mistake of his life when he did not pursue a relationship with Bella, even if it had only been friendship. His only excuse was that he thought there was no way a relationship would work with so much distance between them. At least if he had given it a chance, he would not have so many doubts running through his brain.

Although he had stopped trying to get information out of Emmett a long time ago, he had gleaned some information. All he knew, though, was that Bella was no longer a middle school teacher, instead she moved to the high school in the same district, and she also had a long-term boyfriend who was also a teacher there.

"Practically engaged," Emmett had mentioned once.

So here he was, probably going to come face to face with the woman who still haunted his dreams of "what ifs."

And he no longer had his studies to distract him.

It was going to be a long drive.

FMO

Four days later, Edward pulled into the parking lot of what was to be his new apartment. He smirked as he saw Emmett and Alice arguing on the sidewalk. There definitely was something amusing in the scene of the tiny woman facing off the tall and broad Emmett. Meanwhile, Alice was talking so quickly, it looked as if Emmett could not get in a word edgewise.

Edward honked the horn once, immediately silencing the two friends. As soon as he exited his car, a strong pair of arms was surrounding him while a high pitch squeal sounded next to his ear.

"Oof," Edward let out while hugging Alice. "For someone so little, you sure know how to squeeze their breath out of their body."

Alice grinned as she stepped back. "It's my specialty."

"Hey man," Emmett cut in to give Edward a typical "man hug" complete with a slap on the back. "Good to have you here."

"Good to _be _here," his cousin answered before a little hand grabbed his and practically pulled him towards the apartment buildings.

"Come on! I have to show you the apartment. You're going to love it! Rose and Jasper wanted to meet up, but they couldn't get away from work."

As they walked towards the apartment that now belonged to Edward, he spoke of his long drive and the sites that he saw. Driving alone was tiring, but to Edward, it was worth the time spent, not only to see the country but to finally have time by himself. Meanwhile, as Alice gave him the "grand tour" as she called it, Edward took the time to appreciate his new home. It was small; only one bedroom, one bathroom, a living area, and a small kitchen, but it would fit his bachelor needs.

Emmett was the only person who knew that his cousin desired to live off of his own income. When Edward's parents died, they had left behind a sizeable inheritance, but instead of using the money for commodities, he used it to pay for medical school, and his one luxury – his precious Volvo. The remainder he invested to be used when it was truly needed.

Edward secretly wished it to be a college fund for his children he one day hoped to have.

He was broken from his reverie by a question his cousin posed their friend. "Alice, don't you think you should tell him who…" But suddenly, Alice's hand forced itself over Emmett's mouth.

"Now there is no need of that, Emmett," Alice glared at him.

Edward raised his eyebrow. "No need for what?"

"Nothing," Emmett sighed, finally relenting to Alice's firm discipline. "It doesn't matter."

Whatever was going on between Emmett and Alice certainly had Edward's curiosity, but revealing the mystery was certainly on the bottom of his list of worries. The moving van had just arrived and men were already carrying boxes and furniture in.

The mystery would just have to wait.

FMO

Bella leaned back on her hands as she felt the warmth of the barely seen sun on her face. The day had been perfect so far. Mike had taken her on a picnic date, choosing a park outside of the city. The only sounds heard were the birds chirping and the children's happy squeals coming from the playground. Mike had been attentive all day – holding Bella's hand, opening doors, and even feeding her bits of fruit while they ate.

It wasn't as if Mike was usually inattentive – he was a very sweet man. Bella and Mike had just come to the point in a relationship where they were both comfortable. He did not necessarily do overly-romantic things for Bella, and she didn't expect them. It didn't mean she didn't appreciate them, though.

"Happy?" his voice sounded to her side as she felt him tuck her hair behind her ear.

"Mmm," she responded without opening her eyes.

"Bella?"

"Hmm?"

"Open your eyes."

The anxiousness in Mike's voice startled her into submission, and when she did as she was told, all the breath left her body.

Next to her kneeled her boyfriend of over three years, holding out a diamond ring in his shaking hand.

"Fuck. I mean, shit. I mean…" Mike stuttered as he wiped his brow. "I had this whole speech planned out but now that I'm here, I'm…." He trailed off into silence as he stared at the piece of jewelry in his hand.

"Mike?" His girlfriend gently prodded with his name.

"Isabella," Mike finally looked at her, grabbing a hold of her left hand. "Will you marry me?"

The answer was at the tip of her tongue when the unwelcome vision of green eyes came before her. She quickly willed it away, knowing there was no use to dwell on lost causes. She had loved Edward in the past, and even though what she felt for Mike seemed different than her feelings for Edward, it was love nonetheless.

Mike loved her; she knew that. He was a good man with a stable job who treated Bella with the utmost respect. They could have conversations that lasted for hours about the trivial and the philosophical. Besides Alice and Rosalie, Mike was Bella's best friend.

So as she peered at Mike's frightened face, she knew there was only one answer.

Leaning forward to wrap her arms around his neck, she kissed him before leaning back and declaring, "Yes, Michael, I will marry you."

"Really?" his eyes perked when he heard the answer.

Bella laughed. "Yes, really. Why wouldn't I?'

"I don't know. I guess you never know, you know?" Mike whispered shyly as he clumsily pushed the ring on her finger. "You have made me the happiest man in the world."

Bella held out her hand to inspect the ring more closely. It truly was beautiful, even though it looked as if it cost more than a teacher's salary could afford. The diamond was round and had to be at least one karat, and it was set in an intricate setting surrounded by tinier diamonds.

"Do you like it?" her new fiancée asked eagerly.

"It's beautiful," she whispered, leaning to give her new fiancée a kiss.

Bella was telling the truth. What she did not impart, though, was that it wasn't what she imagined in an engagement ring. She preferred a simple solitaire diamond without all the intricacies of an expensive setting. But she knew that if she told Mike this, it would break his heart.

The couple sat there, with Mike's arms wrapped around Bella, as they reveled in the happiness they felt. Bella had found the man she could see herself with for the rest of her life, and as far as she was concerned, nobody could take away her happiness.

Not yet, at least.

FMO

"Holy shit, Bella! I was _not_ expecting that," Rose exclaimed as she practically crawled over the table to inspect Bella's new piece of jewelry.

Bella, Rosalie, and Alice were enjoying lunch together at a local café they frequented. Bella was now out of school for the summer, but Rose and Alice would take time out of their jobs as a classic car restorer and boutique owner.

"Well, it has been almost four years," Bella reminded her. "And you know that Mike and I have been talking about it."

"True," Rose smiled. "So how did he do it?"

Bella went right into the story of the perfect day she had with Mike. She told of his attentiveness and the romantic picnic at which he got down on one knee and fumbled for the words. Finally, he was able to complete the question in which he asked for Bella's hand in marriage.

During her recollection of the previous day's events, Bella could not help but notice the sullen expression on her other companion's face. She expected that Alice would be bouncing her seat, excited for the opportunity to help plan another wedding (as she was preparing to be wed herself on Christmas Eve). Instead, Alice's eyes were downturned to her plate as she fiddled with her utensils, moving the food around.

"That's adorable," Rose drawled. Although her voice was not as enthusiastic as it could be, Bella knew that it was actually quite a complement when Rose did not outright criticize the method Mike had chosen. "Isn't it Alice?" she continued, elbowing Alice in the ribs.

"Ow!" her friend exclaimed as she seemed to come out of her trance. "What?"

"I said, _isn't it adorable?"_

"Oh yeah. Extremely," Alice muttered. Both her friends knew that an idea popped into her head when she suddenly brightened and a mischievous smile appeared on her face. "I have a great idea!"

"What's that?" the newly engaged friend asked.

"I'm going to throw an engagement party for you two! It'll totally be fun!"

Bella narrowed her eyes. "No. I don't want any party."

"Why not?" Alice whimpered. "It'll just be the usual crowd. I won't make it big. I'll even just call it a celebratory dinner."

Bella sighed. Although she did not like the attention, she knew that Alice would get her way eventually. "Fine," she huffed. "And I suppose this _celebratory dinner_ will take place at my apartment, of course."

"Of course," Alice grinned.

It seemed that Alice always loved to throw dinner parties, but there were two problems: first, Alice's and Jasper's kitchen was not big enough to host such an event. Because Bella enjoyed cooking so much, she made it a priority to choose an apartment that came equipped with a larger kitchen.

Secondly, Alice didn't cook.

And so, every time a party was suggested, it fell upon Bella to not only host the event, but to cook as well. Luckily, she did not mind the trouble that came with cooking.

"So Friday?"

Bella tossed the napkin she was using onto her now empty plate. "Sure. I'll let Mike know," she answered as she stood up. "I have to go. Got errands to run, a menu to plan," she smirked.

As Rose stared at Bella's retreating back, she couldn't help but to confront the tiny friend next to her. "What are you up to, Mary Alice?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she smirked. "See you later." And with a twirl, Alice skipped away from the table, leaving Rose alone with her thoughts.

"Oh Alice, Alice, Alice," she whispered to herself. "What trouble are you causing now?"

FMO

"Everything smells great, babe," Mike muttered against Bella's cheek just before kissing it. "When's it ready?"

Bella turned to give a chaste kiss on his lips. "A half hour or so. Second round of beer already?"

Mike chuckled. "What do you expect? We're just a bunch of men watching baseball and drinking beer, waiting for our food."

"Go away," Bella laughed, slapping Mike in the shoulder. "Leave us women alone."

As Bella turned back to the stove to stir the sauce for the pork roast she was making, she heard Angela sigh.

"What?"

"You guys are just so cute together! I'm so happy for you."

Bella turned to grin at her friend. "Thanks."

When Alice, who was leaning against the counter, snorted, Bella chose to ignore her. Ever since Bella announced her engagement, she noticed that her friend was acting unusual. One moment, Alice acted as if she was happy for Bella, but the next, it was as if Alice could care less. Bella could not fathom what was going through her friend's mind; after all, Alice always seemed to like Mike. She never complained about him, and she was definitely known to speak her mind about something she did not like.

Angela also ignored the sound effect from the little woman in the corner as she asked Bella about her plans. "Have you set a date yet?"

"No," she shook her head. "We're thinking over Spring break. That way we can go on our honeymoon directly after our wedding."

"How perfect," Alice rolled her eyes.

This time, it was Rose who spoke while reaching out for the wine glass that Alice held. "Alice! How much have you been drinking?"

Pulling the glass out of Rose's reach, her friend snapped, "This is my first one!"

The other three women shared glances, all showing their confusion and concern over their friend's attitude. Before any more could be said, however, there was a knock on the door.

"I got it, babe!" Mike called through the wedding.

His fiancée furrowed her brow in confusion. "Who can it be? Everybody's here." Her two friends who were not in ill spirits shrugged their shoulder, but what any of the women _didn't_ see was the smirk hidden behind the glass of wine.

A ruckus of men's exclamations broke out from Bella's living room, and she knew she could not ignore the noise. Not even a baseball game could illicit such a response from the men.

"What's going on?" she called as she rounded the corner to investigate, still with a spoon in her hand. "What's with this rowdy…"

At the site before her, her words caught in her throat as her hand released the spoon grasped in her hand.

"Edward?"


	16. Chapter 2: Having So Much to Say

_**Author's Note: **__Thank you for those of you who reviewed! Hopefully, I did not miss anyone while replying._

_Oh! And I apologize… I forgot to say Happy Hanukkah in my last chapter to those who celebrate it! I hope your holiday was wonderful!_

_So here's the reunion and it's probably not as exciting as y'all hoped :-P_

_These characters are not mine. They belong to Stephanie Meyer. I just like to mess with their heads._

**Chapter 2: Having So Much to Say**

_What hurts the most  
Was being so close  
And having so much to say  
And watching you walk away  
And never knowing  
What could have been  
And not seeing that loving you  
Is what I was tryin' to do_

"_What Hurts the Most" – Rascal Flatts_

When Alice had invited Edward to the dinner party at Bella's apartment, Edward was wary of accepting. The way Alice talked, it seemed as if these dinner parties were intimate and consisted of a close-knit group. Although he belonged to the group in a manner of speaking, he hadn't seen all of them together since the Christmas in Tahoe.

"And that's _exactly_ why you need to come, Edward!" Alice exclaimed. "It will be a reunion! Everybody will be excited to have you there! Besides, if you don't come, I will kidnap you myself. After all, you live in the same complex as Bella."

"I do?" This was news to Edward. When Alice told him of his new home, she never once informed him about near _whom_ he would live.

"It's how I knew that this place was affordable, yet a very nice place to live." Alice's voice turned to a whimper as she begged, "_Please_ Edward. Come and join us."

With a sigh, Edward finally relented and agreed to go to the party. So two days later, he found himself holding a bottle of wine and facing a stranger in what he thought was Bella's doorway.

Clearing his throat, he questioned, "Is this Bella's?"

The blonde man furrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth as if to speak. He was interrupted, however, by Emmett knocking the unknown man out of his way.

"Edward! I didn't know you were coming!" he boomed with his loud voice. Edward looked towards the stranger again, which seemed to tell his cousin he was looking for an introduction. "Oh! Edward, this is Mike, Bella's fiancé. Mike, this is my cousin Edward. He just moved here from Chicago for his residency."

All Edward heard, though, was "Bella's fiancé." He knew his cousin had told him a while back that Bella and this Mike character were practically engaged, but he never heard that it became official. He was thrust out of his thoughts, however, when the new acquaintance held out his hand to shake.

"Good to meet you, man," Mike greeted, oblivious to the workings of Edward's mind.

"Likewise."

Suddenly, Jasper appeared between Emmett and Mike. "Hey! Why are y'all standing in the middle of the doorway? Come on in!" Putting a hand on Edward's shoulder, Jasper took the bottle of wine and led Edward into the apartment, where he spotted another unknown face, who was staring at him curiously.

"Eddie, this here's Ben, a co-worker of Bella's. Ben, this is Edward, my long lost cousin." Everybody chuckled at this description, and it must have been rather loud, because an instant later, they heard a woman's voice asking what was going on. All four men turned around to face the source of the voice.

It had been four years, but Edward knew from whom that voice came before he even turned around. But when he laid eyes on her, he could not help but admire her beauty. In the four years since he had seen her, it seemed as if Bella developed some curves. Her face lost its roundness, and her wavy hair was cut to her shoulders.

In the moment Bella first spotted Edward, she noticed changes in him as well. His face become more angular, and his shoulders more broad. It appeared as if he began to work out more. _Not that he needed to_, Bella thought, remembering the body she knew.

Before she could mentally kick herself for her thoughts, the sound of the wooden spoon hitting the floor knocked her out of her daze.

"Edward?"

The said person shuffled his feet, as he looked down. Finally looking up, he greeted, "Hi, Bella."

Instead of a polite reply, all she could do was ask, "What are you doing here?"

By this time, the women who were congregated in the kitchen arrived to see what all the fuss was about, and the men were frozen in their places, wondering what was going on. Both Emmett and Jasper believed that after four years apart, Bella and Edward would have no issues between them, while Mike and Ben obviously did not know what could cause the strange interaction between Emmett's cousin and Mike's fiancé.

"Alice invited me. She said it was okay."

"Alice invited you?" she turned to the friend in question, raising an eyebrow. Addressing everybody else, Bella excused herself before dragging Alice by the wrist into another room.

"Um, well, yeah," Rose muttered, "I'm going to check on the food."

"Me too," Angela added, turning to follow Rosalie back into the kitchen.

The men stood in silence for a moment until cheers from the TV distracted them.

"Woohoo!" Emmett yelled. "Home run Mariners!"

FMO

In Bella's bedroom, the atmosphere was a lot tenser. Bella did not speak for a while; all she could do was glare at Alice.

"What are you not telling me?" she finally asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Cut the crap, Alice. A blast from my past just showed up in my living room and he says that _you _invited him. So what's going on?"

Alice shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "Yeah, I invited him. I thought it would be nice for him to join us."

Bella sighed and rolled her eyes. "So what? Is he here for a visit?"

"No." Alice paused until Bella raised an eyebrow at her. "He just moved here last weekend. He's doing his residency at the children's hospital."

"How long have you known?"

Alice looked down, tracing an individual design with her shoe. "Two months."

"Besides you and Emmett, I suppose Jasper and Rose know, too? Were they all in on it?"

Her friend shook her head. "They all knew he was back in town, but I didn't tell anybody I invited him. Nobody suggested it, either, seeing that it was your engagement party. Are you mad?"

"Of course I'm upset!" Bella threw up her hands and sat on the bed. "Why, Alice? What was the big secret that you couldn't tell me? At least you could have warned me that you wanted to invite him. I wouldn't have minded."

At least, that's what Bella told herself. She was a happily engaged woman, and she would never deny Edward the ability to hang out with his cousin and friends just because of their past history.

"I thought you would," Alice sighed, sitting next to Bella and taking her hand. "Please don't be mad at me. I didn't mean to upset you."

Bella looked down to see the puppy-dog expression Alice always donned when she was begging for forgiveness. Truthfully, Bella believed that there was something more to the explanation than Alice related. However, Bella also knew that Alice never meant to upset her, and so she could not keep a grudge. And besides, she wasn't about to ruin a perfectly good dinner party by pouting.

"It's okay, Alice. Just don't keep information from me on purpose.

Her friend squealed as she tightly hugged Bella. "I promise!" Alice jumped up from the bed and grabbed Bella's hand. "Now let's go have a party!"

FMO

Dinner passed without any further drama. When Alice and Bella left the latter's room, Bella gave a small smile and slight wave to Edward, and then a grin to her fiancée before disappearing into the kitchen to finish making dinner.

At the table, conversation flowed freely. At first, Edward was quiet, but as he became comfortable with his friends and three new acquaintances, he began to converse more. He found it difficult, however, too stop his gaze from going to Bella. Especially when she and her fiancée shared loving looks and touches. He couldn't help but mentally kick himself when he realized what he missed.

And the fact that Bella did not feel anything.

Unbeknownst to him, that was not exactly true. She did feel a spark of _something._ She couldn't deny still being attracted to him, especially with the changes in his appearance over the years. Memories did flash before her eyes of times with him – both in bed and out, but she forced them to the back of her mind.

After all, she was with Mike. She made her choice, and she would not back out of it because she was attracted to a man from her past.

Because they hardly spoke directly to each other since Edward arrived, he was surprised when after dinner, she approached him.

"Hey Edward," she gave a small smile. "Sorry about earlier. I was just taken by surprise."

"I can see that. I apologize…"

Bella shook her head. "Don't. You had no idea that _I_ had no idea. Besides, you're part of this group now, since you're sticking around. Congratulations on graduating, by the way."

Edward gave her his signature crooked smile which almost took her breath away. "Thanks. You too."

For a moment, Bella almost asked him why he was congratulating her, but the sudden arm around her waist pulled her down to Earth. Looking up at Mike's face, she grinned before turning her attention back to Edward. "Thanks."

"So Cullen," Mike interjected during the gap in the conversation. "Coming to poker night tomorrow? I think it's at Emmett's this time around."

Edward's eyes quickly turned to Bella before going back at Mike. "Count me in. I'll bring the beer."

"All right!" Mike extended his arm to give Edward a fist bump. "Bring extra money, too, because I will clean you out."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to him. He's thinks he's some big poker champion."

"Babe!" Mike whined. "You truly stung me with your cruel words."

"You'll get over it," she laughed, patting his cheek.

The sound of a clearing throat brought their attention back to Edward. "Well, I better be going now. Thank you for dinner, Bella."

She smiled in return. "No problem. I guess I'll be seeing you around."

"I guess we will."

Bella watched Edward say good-bye to the remaining guests before making his way out the door.

Once he was gone, she turned back to her fiancé at her side only to see him giving her a look that only said "We'll talk later."

FMO

"So who's Edward?"

Bella and Mike were washing dishes once all the guests had left. She knew this question was coming, but she still was not sure what to tell him. He needed to know the truth; however, how _much_ of the truth was still in the air.

"Emmett's cousin."

Mike rolled his eyes. "I know that. But what's he to you?"

"Nothing," she shrugged before turning to face him. "A little over four years ago, we all went to Tahoe for Christmas, and Alice pulled a stunt."

Mike smirked. "She set you guys up?"

Bella chuckled as she remembered the day Edward walked into her bedroom. "Yeah. She booked us both in the same hotel room."

"Are you serious?"

"Yup."

"Did it work?"

Bella pressed her lips together, contemplating how to answer it. Finally, she decided that Mike needed to hear all of the truth. It was safest for him to know it right off the bat before he found out from another source. "It started out as a joke. We wanted Alice to be confused if it worked or totally backfired, so every day we would switch up our attitudes to each other. But eventually, yeah," Bella's eyes turned downward, "it worked.

"Did you sleep with him?"

Bella nodded. She didn't know what to expect of Mike's reaction. He was so laid back, but she knew men could have a jealous streak. Therefore, she was surprised when she felt his gentle hands on her chin, pulling her face up to look her in the eyes.

"What happened?"

She shrugged again. "The vacation ended, as did our fling. We didn't even keep in touch; I had no idea he even moved here. I promise."

Mike playfully flicked her nose. "Relax Bella. It was obvious you haven't spoken in a long time."

"You're not mad?" she looked up hopefully into his eyes.

"Are you going to be mad at me for every other relationship I have been in?"

"No, but..."

"No buts. It's in the past. Just thanks for telling me."

"You're welcome." Bella reached up to wrap her arms around Mike's neck before giving him a kiss, causing a smirk to grow on his face.

"Now let's finish these dishes so I can remind you who has you now."

This time, it was Bella who smirked. "The dishes can wait."

"Awesome." And with a squeal, Bella found herself over Mike's shoulder as he ran into her bedroom.

_How can you just walk on by  
Without one tear in your eye?  
Don't you have the slightest feelings left for me?  
Maybe that's just your way  
Of dealing with the pain  
Forgetting everything between our rise and fall  
Like we never loved at all_

"_Like We Never Loved at All" – Faith Hill feat. Tim McGraw_

_**Author's Note 2: **__I just wanted to let everybody know if there is any confusion, this story does have angst in it. Bella isn't just going to dump Mike for Edward. I don't expect it to be extremely heartbreaking – just not as lighthearted as the first part. So just stick with me… There is a reason why I did not stop at the end of Part I._


	17. Chapter 3: Telling Myself

_**Huge Author's Note: **__Oh my gosh! Another chapter! I'm on a roll..._

_Except maybe not this week. For one, it's Christmas this weekend (duh) and two, I'm making my sister-in-law a scarf for Christmas. And instead of just doing a plain old knit/pearl pattern, I decided to go all out and do a cable knit with really fine yarn and small needles._

_Yes, not exactly the best plan on my part._

_The point is that if it's not done by Christmas, I'm going to make it my business to do nothing but knit until it's finished, which means, possibly no update next week._

_Some more points:_

_1.) Some of you are really going to hate Bella in this story. Maybe not __hate__, but definitely be frustrated with her._

_2.) I don't own the characters. I just like to mess with their minds._

_3.) Follow me chicabonita519_

_And last but definitely not least..._

_5.) MERRY CHRISTMAS! I pray that God blesses all of you (whether you celebrate or not) not only this holiday, but all the time._

**Chapter 3 – Telling Myself**

_I bought these new heels, did my nails,  
Had my hair done just right.  
I thought this new dress was a sure bet  
For romance tonight  
Well it's perfectly clear, between the TV and beer,  
I won't get so much as a kiss.  
As I head for the door I turn around to be sure.  
Did I shave my legs for this?_

"_Did I Shave my Legs for This?" – Deana Carter_

"What are you up to, Alice?"

At the sound of the tinkling bell of the main entrance for her boutique, Alice looked up from folding shirts to find her very beautiful, but very irritated, friend.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Rose," she smiled innocently, placing a stack of sweaters on a display.

"You know what," her friend crossed her arms. "What were you thinking springing Edward on Bella like that?"

Alice fluttered her eyelashes. "What? I was just inviting him to a friendly get together. There was no need for him to stay home alone last night."

Rose did not say anything. All she had to do was continue to glare at her friend, arms folded over her chest, to make Alice talk.

"Fine!" she raised her arms in exasperation. "I don't want Bella to marry Mike, okay?"

Rose furrowed her eyebrows. "Why not? They're great together."

"They _are_," Alice admitted, biting her lower lip. "But she was better with Edward."

"For a whole week?" Rosalie scoffed. "Come on, Alice. Bella loves Mike. Mike loves Bella and treats her like a princess. You can't deny that."

"No, I can't. But you can't deny that when Bella and Edward were together she acted completely different. I don't doubt that Bella loves Mike. I just think she loved Edward in better way. A way suitable for forever."

"Loved Edward? Alice, you've got to be joking. You heard her when we left Tahoe. It was just a fling."

"God," Alice rolled her eyes. "Even you can't be that blind. They were totally in love."

"So what? It was four years ago!"

Alice sighed. "I _know_. But I also know that they're meant to be."

Rose snorted.

"Give it time, Rose," her friend pleaded. "Just watch how Bella and Edward interact. If in a couple months' time, you don't see any hope there, then I'll give up. I promise. Tomorrow night we're all going out for dinner and a few drinks. You can start then."

Rose stood, her lips in a thin line. "Fine," she huffed. "But if…" She was cut short by the door bell once again, this time to see their mutual friend all through.

"Hey guys," Bella greeted. "Rose, what are you doing here?"

She paused just long enough for Alice to speak for her. "Oh, she was just seeing if she could find a new outfit for tomorrow's dinner. You know, Rose. Always updating her wardrobe."

"Just like you."

"Just like me," Alice smirked. "So what are _you_ doing here?"

In response to her question, Bella grinned. "I'm here for a new outfit as well. Mike has plans for tomorrow night."

"Really?" Rose raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow directed at Alice. "So you're not coming out with us?"

Bella bit her bottom lip and shook her head. "Well, I suppose not. Mike was pretty adamant about having the night to ourselves at his apartment."

Rose coughed, giving Alice a significant glance before turning her attention back to Bella. "Well, I think I saw the perfect dress for you the other day. Demure but sexy."

Alice quickly nodded. "I think I know the one you're talking about, Rose. Let me go get it."

Within a half hour's time, Bella had secured a new outfit and the ladies had plans for a girls' night in while the guys had poker night. As soon as the door closed behind Bella, Rose turned to Alice shaking her head.

"It's not going to happen, Alice."

"Trust me," she contradicted. "It will. I know love when I see it."

FMO

"I'm out," Mike threw down his cards, leaving just Edward and Jasper to duke it out through a card game.

"I thought you were going to clean me out?" Edward smirked.

Mike shrugged. "I'm having an off day."

"Right," Emmett guffawed. "Isn't every day and off day for you?" Mike gave him the middle finger, causing Emmett to laugh even louder. "Classy comeback."

Edward laughed with everybody else around the table. Despite being in the same room of the fiancé of the woman that got away, he found himself having a good time. He never had very close friends in Chicago once he graduated undergrad, so it felt good to actually belong.

Especially when he could kick everybody's asses at poker. He smirked as he laid down his winning hand and pulled the pile of chips towards him.

"Won again."

"Dude, you must be counting cards, or something," Mike complained. "You've won every hand."

Emmett smacked Mike on the shoulder. "Nope. Edward's is just the fucking best at everything. Kind of annoying."

His cousin rolled his eyes. "That's not true, Em."

"Oh yeah. I forgot you suck with girls. Remember in Tahoe when you were being such a pussy with Bell… Shit! Jasper! What the hell?" Jasper rolled his eyes and gestured towards Mike. "Oh. Yeah. Like I was saying, he didn't want anything…" It was obvious he was trying to backtrack quickly without much luck.

This time it was Mike who interrupted, putting up his hands at Emmett, but when he spoke it was towards Edward. "It's all right. Bella told me."

Edward didn't know whether or not to be relieved. On one hand, no one had to hide anything about the relationship that he once had with Bella, but on the other, Bella must have been completely over him if she was so truthful with Mike.

What he _definitely_ felt was embarrassment.

"I'm gonna get a beer." He hoped to have a moment to himself as he grabbed a beer from the fridge, but to his dismay, Mike had followed him.

"Hey man. There's no hard feelings," he informed Edward. "I know it was a long time ago, and really no one could blame you for going for Bella."

Edward raised an eyebrow. "I suppose not."

His competition, if he could call Mike that, shook his head. "She's a great woman. She made me the happiest man on earth the day she agreed to marry me."

Edward nodded, taking a gulp of his beer. He found it extremely difficult to remain stoic. He couldn't be sure if Mike actually saw through his façade. Edward could just not shake the feeling that Mike was subtlety warning him that he knew Edward still had feelings for Bella. He believed that Mike was warning him not to get in the way of his happiness.

"Besides, it's obvious that she no longer has feelings for you."

And there it was. The stake through Edward's heart. He knew then what he was denying all along.

It wasn't that Edward still had feelings for Bella.

It was that he never stopped loving her.

FMO

Bella straightened out her brand new dress that she bought yesterday before knocking on Mike's door. As she heard heavy footsteps make their way to the front entrance, Bella wondered once again why she still did not have a key to her fiancé's apartment.

And her friends wondered why they weren't living together.

She brushed her thoughts aside as she heard the deadlock turn and saw the door open to reveal a rumpled Michael, dressed in sweats and a T-shirt. Although his eyes lit up when they fell upon this beautiful woman, Bella just stared in shock. She had come prepared for a romantic dinner, and here was Mike, dressed as if was planning on spending the evening on the couch, drinking beer and watching baseball.

"Babe, you look breathtaking," he breathed as he leaned in for a kiss. With a flick of his tongue against her lips, he pulled away, bringing Bella inside with him. "What's the occasion?"

Bella shrugged. "I thought we were having a special night together."

"Babe," he grasped both of her hands in his. "You know every night together is special."

She desperately tried not to roll her eyes at his corny line, but she could not stop from grimacing. "So what's the plan?"

"Well, I bought the ingredients for lasagna. I thought you could make it for dinner."

Bella sighed. "I guess I can do that."

"Great! Thanks, Bella." With a chaste kiss on the cheek, Mike left her side to sit on the couch. Just as she thought, baseball was on the television and there was a beer on the end table.

Slipping off her high heels, Bella shuffled her way to the kitchen to begin dinner.

An hour and a half later, Bella was placing the hot pan on the table that she set. "Honey," she called. "Dinner's ready." When she heard Mike's footsteps through the kitchen she called out, "Can you get a bottle of Chianti?"

"Wine? I was thinking I'd just drink beer."

Bella inwardly sighed, willing away the tears. It wasn't as if she could blame Michael. When she remembered the conversation where they made plans for the evening, not once did he say it was a special occasion. All he asked for was a night at home. It was her imagination that created the idea that the night would be different than every other night spent together. After all, did she really believe that just because they were engaged, Mike would become more romantic? Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?

"Well can you pour me a glass then?" _I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry._

"Sure thing." A few minutes later, Mike entered the dining room, holding her glass of wine. "Do you think we can eat in the living room? The Mariners are about to start playing."

So much for romance.

FMO

Edward was the first one to see Bella walk through the door. He was standing at the bar ordering another pitcher of beer when the flash of midnight blue against fair skin caught his eye. Turning to fully view her, he felt his breath catch in his throat. Her off-the-shoulder dress hugged her curves perfectly, ending mid-thigh. Her long legs were emphasized by the black peek-a-boo heels she wore.

She was definitely overdressed for the bar that his friends and he were at as made obvious by the admiring stares of the male customers. It was obvious that she came from somewhere a little more formal, and it was no secret that she had plans with Mike that night. So what was she doing there?

Just as her eyes met his, he was interrupted by a pitcher being placed in front of him.

"Thanks," he told the bartender. "Just put it on the tab."

As he turned to face Bella once again, he felt the warmth of a body next to him. Glancing down, he once again met the eyes that he admired. Where joy usually sparkled in her eyes, however, sadness had taken over. He wanted to say something – anything – that would force the sadness away, but their revived friendship was too new – too fragile – to say anything.

"Hey," she greeted.

"Hey."

The once-couple stood in awkward silence trying to look anywhere but at each other. Finally, Edward cleared his throat. "Come on, I'll show you where everybody is seated."

As Bella followed Edward through the crowded bar, she was forced to take hold of the back of his shirt so that she would not get lost. Immediately, she felt the heat of his body radiating through the shirt. At the same time she gasped, Edward took in a raspy breath at the feel of Bella's hand barely brushing his back. He was immediately taken back to the time when she freely touched his bare skin in both loving and seductive ways.

As these memories flooded his brain, he could barely contain himself from turning around to embrace Bella in his arms. His body still remembered what it felt like to hold her and what it tasted like to kiss her. As the booth where his friends were congregated came into view, he breathed a sigh of relief. He knew he could only keep his willpower for so long, and there was no way he could risk losing Bella now. He may not have her as a lover, but he would keep her has a friend.

"Hey, sexy bitch!" Rose called out once she caught sight of Bella. "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah!" Alice chimed in. "I thought you and Mikey had a romantic date planned."

Bella slid herself into the booth next to Alice and sighed for what seemed to be the thousandth time that day. "Well, I thought we did. He just wanted a quiet night watching baseball."

"Looking like that?" Emmett pondered. "What the hell is wrong with him? I totally would have banged you. Ow! Woman? What's your problem?" he asked Rose who still had her hand in the air.

"I'm right here, asshole."

"So?" he shrugged. "It's just Bella."

"Gee, Em. Way to make a woman feel great," Bella scoffed.

"Forget about it, Bells," Jasper interrupted, putting a shot of a clear liquid in front of her. "All us men have stupid days."

"Speak for yourself, bro," Emmett muttered.

Rose rolled her eyes. "You, especially, you big lug."

"Well," Bella picked up the shot of alcohol as if to toast everybody. "Here's to imperfect men!" She quickly shot down the liquid fire and slammed the glass back on the table. As she lifted her eyes from the table, she could not help but catch those of the person sitting across from her. Edward's eyes were like liquid emeralds as he stared into hers as if searching for something.

"Are you okay?" he asked so quietly, it was almost a whisper.

Bella nodded. "Yeah. It's not so bad in the big scheme of things. I was just putting unrealistic expectations on tonight."

Edward frowned, his eyes turning darker. "I don't think it's so unrealistic."

Nothing was said between them, but their gazes were locked. Neither could look away from each other, both trying to decipher what the other was feeling. Moments passed where conversation flowed freely among the company, but either nobody realized the tension between the man and the woman, or at least nobody was willing to disturb them.

Until Rose decided that Bella was in need of another shot. Slamming a glass in front of her, she demanded, "Drink up!"

Bella's eyes tore away from Edward's to meet Rose's amused expression. "What?" Bella asked. Her friend shook her head, only to meet the eyes of Alice.

As soon as Bella was distracted by taking the shot, Rose leaned over the table. "I'm with you."

Alice's answering smile was blinding.

FMO

The night passed quickly. After the initial tension between Bella and Edward dissolved, they both eased comfortably back into the conversation among their friends. Although they did not necessarily speak directly to each other all evening, they felt comfortable being in each other's presence without any further awkwardness.

Bella could not understand why there would be any awkwardness to begin with. Two nights prior, they were able to talk comfortably. But Mike was also with her. Now they were two single people in the midst of two loving couples.

As the group gathered their things to leave, Bella felt a wave of dizziness wash over her. "Oh boy," she said as a hand came up to her head. "I think I drank a little more than I thought."

"You can't drive home like that, Bells," Alice informed her friend.

Bella rolled her eyes. "I know that. I'm not that stupid. Who can take me home?" The question was automatically asked as none of her friends lived particularly close to her. It completely escaped her mind that she now had somebody sharing the same apartment complex.

It was Rose who realized who would be the designated driver of choice. "Edward, obviously."

Bella's head snapped around to look at Edward. Her cheeks became warm with a blush as she asked, "Is that okay?"

"Of course. We'll have to take your car. I came with Emmett and Rose."

Bella nodded. "That's actually better. Then I don't have to leave my car here. Can you drive stick?"

"Yeah. My car is stick."

As the couple-that-wasn't talked, the whole group of friends had been walking towards the door. With good-byes said, Bella found herself leading Edward to her truck. Although it was from the 50s, Bella loved it. It was a gift from her parents when she learned how to drive, and with plenty of maintenance and care, it continued to run, although she was afraid it was on its last leg.

Although the truck had been good to her, the weather had not been good on the exterior. The rusted metal of the truck always persuaded people to believe that there was no way the truck could run.

Edward was no different.

"_This_ is your car?"

Bella nodded. "Isn't she a beauty?"

Edward looked at her incredulously. "You're serious?"

"Of course I am," she frowned. "I love my truck."

"Does it even run?"

She rolled her eyes. "It got here didn't it?" Bella grumbled as she read for the passenger door. Before she could reach it, however, Edward's hand was on the handle, opening it for her. His other hand was extended, as if to help her in the truck. Tentatively, Bella reached to grab his hand as if she climbed into the truck.

She didn't exactly need assistance to climb in her truck. After all, she did it every day. But she could not ignore the chivalry that Edward was showing. The fact that Mike had never helped her into a car, never mind open a car door for her did not escape her thoughts.

Knowing where her scattered thoughts were leading, Bella shook her head slightly. She could not; no _would_ not compare Edward to Mike. There was no reason to. She and Edward were just friends, and she was going to marry Mike.

She was startled out of her thoughts as Edward closed his door once he was settled in the truck. "Okay," he stated as the truck roared to life. "You'll have to tell me how to get home."

"Turn right out of the parking lot."

Some time passed with the only words spoken between the two of them was the directions Bella gave to their apartment complex.

"So why'd you switch from middle to high school?" Edward's voice broke the silence.

It was the first time Bella had heard his voice in pure silence without another noise polluting the timber of his voice. It was as smooth and calming as she remembered…

"Bella?"

"Excuse me?"

Edward chuckled, sending another shiver down Bella's spine. "I asked why you switched from middle school to high school."

"You remember what level I taught?"

His eyebrows furrowed together. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

She shrugged. "It's just been a long time…"

Silence surrounded them once again before Edward cleared his throat. "So?"

Bella bit her lip as she thought of how to phrase her answer. "I loved the kids," she began. "But I wanted to teach at a higher level. There is only so much depth to conversations you can have with twelve and thirteen-year-olds."

The sound of Edward's laughter vibrated through the air again. "I suppose you're right."

"So why'd you move here?" Bella questioned. "Weren't you settled in Chicago?"

"I guess," Edward grimaced. "But there wasn't anything there that really kept me there. At least here I'm close to Uncle Carlisle and Aunt Esme. And Emmett, of course."

"Was it hard? Leaving friends?"

"I didn't really have many close friends."

"You didn't?"

"No," he shook his head. "I was just so focused in med school, and I didn't get close to anybody. Not beyond school, anyway."

"No girlfriend?"

There was no doubt in Bella's mind that if Edward couldn't see her, she would've slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. She could not fathom what would make her ask such a question. What did it matter to her?

Luckily, Edward did not seem affronted by the question. "No, no girlfriend."

It was once again silent in the car, the awkwardness almost palpable. Bella was desperate to rid herself of the feeling, so she continued her questioning.

"Did you drive here from Chicago? Or did you fly?"

"I drove. I wanted to see the country."

"I bet it was beautiful."

"Very," he murmured looking at her as she stared out of the window, oblivious to the attention she was getting.

"Hmm," she hummed. "I would love to drive around the country some day. Just get in the car and drive. Go wherever I feel like going."

Edward could not help but picture her – hair blowing in the breeze from the open windows as she drove through the desert or the flat farmland. He was in the front seat and they were fighting over what to listen to the radio. Slowly though, the picture of him seated beside Bella faded into one of Mike smiling and laughing with her.

Suddenly, he was uncomfortable being in such close quarters as Bella, but relief was in sight as he pulled into a parking space. Without saying a word, he exited the cab and hurried to open the door for Bella, once again offering a hand to help her step to the ground.

"Thank you," she whispered as she released his hand. "I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah. Later. Good night, Bella."

"'Night, Edward."

As he stared at her retreating form, he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He knew he needed Bella in his life somehow, but the ride home told him how difficult it would be to be friends with her.

Because he was damned if he knew how to do it.

'_Cause I'm acting as if  
This blue sky's never gonna rain down on me.  
I'm telling myself  
This true love's never gonna leave me lonely.  
Unless there's something I've missed, I'm acting as if_

"_As If" – Sara Evans_


	18. Chapter 4: I'm Not That Strong

_**Author's Note: **__So this will be a longer author's note..._

_I had hoped to get this out sooner, but the holidays took a toll on me. And my husband likes to steal my computer. Bah._

_Okay... several thanks are in order:_

_The WC ladies who persuaded me to add the little bit of physical violence towards the end of the chapter. _

_BexDazzled and LizDesmond who read this chapter for me because I was nervous about it._

_And of course all those who read this story. Your reviews mean the world to me, and even if you don't regularly review, the fact that you read this makes me happy :)_

_Another note about this chapter:_

_This is one of the scenes I had pictured in my mind when I came up with Part II of this story. In my mind it is fueled by the song that I put in it. Lady Antebellum's "All We'd Ever Need" (Link: http:/www(.)youtube(.)com/watch?v=c-PlAkprhvQ)_

_Normally I only put a select verse and/or chorus for my songs, but for the full effect, I spaced the lyrics out as they are through the dialogue... Especially the last time through the chorus where Charles and Hillary (the lead singers) go back and forth with each line. You obviously do not have to listen to the song, but I think it'll make better sense to you if you'd listen to it either after or during reading the chapter.._

_Or maybe I'm just a geek that wishes life was a musical and we'd all just break out in song and dance. *shrugs*_

_Follow my nonsense on twitter chicabnita519_

_**As always, these characters are not mine.**_

**Chapter 4 – I'm Not That Strong**

"Oh Alice! It's gorgeous!"

Cheeks that did not normally become flushed from embarrassment soon reddened. "Thanks, Bella."

Rose smiled serenely at the vision of white in front of her. "I have to agree with Bella. You look absolutely stunning."

Dressed in a white sheath dress, complete with a fingertip length veil, Alice truly was a vision to behold. Her dress had just arrived after being specially made, and she took Bella and Rose with her to see how it fit. Alice also wanted to pick out the bridesmaids' dresses for the only two in her wedding party. Both were her maids of honor, of course.

"It _is_ perfect," Alice commented. "I'm glad I decided to make it simple."

When deciding on a dress, Alice did not know if she wanted many embellishments. Many people who knew her well believed that true to her personalities, her dress would have some flare. Instead, the only embellishment was the row of satin buttons that extended down her bodice and to the end of the chapel train.

She smoothed the skirt down once more before turning to her two best friends. "Why don't you girls go out and browse for dresses while I get changed? I'll join you in a bit."

"You're not getting fitted today?" Bella asked.

"No. It's too far before the wedding. I'll come back like six weeks before. Who knows? I may gain weight," she laughed

So as the door closed behind Alice and the attendant, the two bridesmaids climbed the stairs to the showroom. As they began to browse through rows of dresses, Rose sighed as if she had something to say but was afraid to mention it.

"Something bothering you?"

"No," the blonde shook her head. "I was just wondering something."

"Wondering what?" Bella raised her eyebrow in suspicion of what Rose had to say.

"Just wondering if you saw Edward this week."

"I haven't."

"I suppose you wouldn't. Em said that Edward started his residency this week."

"Then why'd you ask me?"

"Well, you _do_ live in the same apartment complex."

"It's not like I constantly stare out of my window, Rose." Bella sighed in exasperation. "What is it that you really want to know?"

"Who wants to know what?"

Bella jumped as her hand went to her heart at the sound of her other friend's voice. "God, Alice! You really shouldn't sneak up on me."

Alice blatantly ignored her as she turned to Rose. "What'd I miss?"

Rose continued to look through the dresses nonchalantly. "Not much. Just that Bella hasn't seen Edward around lately."

Bella rolled her eyes. "And I fail to see the importance of the issue. So why don't you spit it out?"

"Well I was curious how the drive home went on Sunday night?"

Bella scrunched her face in irritation. "It went. He drove home, we got out of the car, and we went to our respective apartments."

"It wasn't awkward?" Alice joined in the interrogation.

"Well, yeah," Bella frowned. "It kind of was. But it was all right."

"What did you talk about?"

Bella shrugged. "Random things. Why I switched from middle to high school and about his move."

"And how did…" Rose began, but Bella held up her hand.

"Please? Can we forget this? Yes, it was a little awkward, but I handled it. It was in the past and I don't think either Edward or I will have any problems."

"But…" Alice attempted to interrupt.

"No," Bella shook her head vehemently. "Drop it. We're here to find dresses, and that's what we'll do."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Bella chose to ignore it.

FMO

Mike was not very creative. Although he wanted to make Bella feel treasured, he just could not figure out how to make his gestures romantic enough. Call it a cop out, but that was his excuse. He told himself that Bella did not expect grand gestures; that she enjoyed the relationship the way it was.

But her expression Sunday evening gave her feelings away. Of course, it wasn't until she left to meet her friends at the bar that he realized that his fiancée was not acting her normal self. He remembered her grimaces and the fallen look on her face. He also remembered the beautiful new dress she wore and the way she did her hair.

And that was when it hit him that she was expecting something else.

He hadn't meant to insinuate that the evening was no different than other evenings they spent hanging out, but somehow she misinterpreted what he said. Although it was technically nobody's fault for the miscommunication, he still felt terrible. If it was one thing he knew, it was that he never wanted to make Bella unhappy, no matter the reason. And so that night, Mike decided to act out the evening to what Bella had expected.

He had everything ready. The table was set complete with a tablecloth, two candles, and a bottle of wine. Placed next to Bella's dish was a calendar that reached into the following year. He had some classical music playing in the background, and the lighting dimmed. He did not know how to cook very well, so instead of trying a recipe, he picked up take-out from Bella's favorite restaurant and arranged the dishes on the plates. Lastly, he dressed himself in slacks and a button down shirt.

Now all he had to do was wait for Bella. He didn't expect her to be dressed as she was last Sunday, but that was not what was important. What mattered was that he made up for the mistake he unknowingly made last weekend.

Mike finally heard her soft footsteps leading to his door and then her familiar knock. He practically had to hold himself back from running to the door. Behind the door he found his Bella, casually dressed, but still beautiful.

"Hi!" Mike exclaimed, unable to keep out his excitement.

"Hi…" she trailed off as she took in Mike's appearance. "What are… Why are…?" Bella's expression twisted in confusion at how her fiancé was dressed.

"Come in." Mike grabbed her hand and pulled her inside, closing the door behind them. Holding her hand tightly, he led Bella to the dining room where the dinner was set up.

"What is all this?" Bella breathed, looking at the preparations Mike took.

Lifting her hand to his mouth, Mike kissed the back of it gently. "It occurred to me that there was a miscommunication about Sunday. You were expecting something different. Something like this. I feel like such a dick for how I acted."

"Mike," Bella sighed, cupping his cheek in her free hand. "It's okay. It was mostly my fault."

"Still. I want to make it up to you. You know I can't cook, but I got some take out."

Bella smiled softly before she leaned in to kiss Mike gently. "This is wonderful, Mike. I love it."

"Well, come sit down."

As Bella sat in the chair Mike had pulled out for her, she fingered the calendar that was sitting by her plate. "What's this?"

Mike cleared his throat, sitting at his own place. "We haven't set a date yet, and well," he swallowed, "I thought, if you wanted, we could decide on one."

Bella could not help but grin at his proposal. Although it had only been a couple of weeks since they become engaged, the natural question from everyone after hearing the news was "Have you set a date?" Mike had never brought it up, so she had thought he wasn't in a hurry to plan the wedding.

"When were you thinking?"

"It's up to you, babe," Mike reached over the table to cover her hand. "However long you need to plan the wedding. I don't know anything about this stuff."

Bella raised an eyebrow. "And I do?"

He chuckled. "No, but I can bet fifty bucks Alice does."

Bella's laughter echoed his. "Okay. Then let's pick a date."

FMO

As Edward pulled in the parking lot to the apartment complex, he could not help but look for Bella's car. This was a daily occurrence – at least for the days he actually made it home from the hospital. The attending doctors did not waste any time to orient the new graduates into the world of acute care and being the lowest minions on the totem pole. Within the first two weeks, Edward had already worked four 36 hour shifts as well as many 12 hour shifts. When he was off work, all he made contact with was his bed.

As exhausted as he was, Edward could not help but hope to see Bella on his way to and from work. He knew that his friends had gotten together a couple of times in the past couple of weeks, but he was either working or asleep in his bed during such occasions.

As much as he missed spending time with his friends, he was especially anxious to see Bella again.

Because he had made a decision.

Ever since Bella entered her apartment when they arrived home the evening she had joined her friends at the bar, he could not help but wonder about her relationship with her fiancé. She had arrived at the establishment dressed as if she was expecting a formal night together, but something had obviously gone amiss.

Edward knew that he had no right to think poorly of Mike. It was _he_ that left Bella with merely an email address, hoping that she would initiate contact with him once they had separated. Hindsight is 20/20, though, and Edward wished he could kick his own ass for his stupidity. He paid for it by moving to Seattle only to find the woman he still loved engaged to a seemingly good man.

The incident that Sunday night two weeks ago, though, had given him reason to doubt their relationship. Perhaps the happiness Mike and Bella displayed was only a façade created to hide a mediocre relationship. Perhaps their relationship was not as strong as it appeared.

A flame of hope burned in his heart. He knew that Bella had felt _something_ for him during their time in Tahoe. He was not sure how strong the feelings were, but the connection was definitely present.

And now he had nothing to lose.

It was with this determination that Edward walked the fateful day he finally found Bella on her front step, watering the lone flower that stood in a clay pot.

"Hey."

_Boy it's been all this time  
And I can't get you off my mind  
And nobody knows it but me  
I stare at your photograph  
Still sleep in the shirt you left  
And nobody knows it but me_

Bella jumped as she straightened and turned to see who had frightened her. It was with surprise that her brown eyes met green before they roamed over his body, taking in his casual appearance. Since all the doctors changed into scrubs at the hospital, Edward made it a habit of only wearing jeans and a t-shirt to work. He never realized how women would stop and stare at him as he walked to and from the locker room. He honestly was not conscious of the effect of his jeans lying low on his hips and his form fitting t-shirt had on the female population.

Bella, on the other hand, was definitely _not_ oblivious to Edward's appearance. A blush expanded over her cheeks as she not-so-subtly eyed him from head to toe. It was only when she saw Edward's smirk that she quickly looked away, towards her front stoop.

_Every day I wipe my tears away  
So many nights I've prayed for you to say…_

"Hey," she whispered back, still embarrassed by being caught ogling her ex-… Her ex-_something_.

"What are you up to?"

Bella shrugged. "Not too much. Just trying to add a little happiness to my front door. How 'bout you?"

"Not much."

_I should've been chasing you  
I should've been trying to prove  
That you were all that mattered to me  
I should've said all the things  
That I kept inside of me  
Maybe I could've made you believe  
That what we had was all we'd ever need_

The two stood awkwardly for a moment – Edward with his hands in his pockets, a picture of ease that he learned to feign while in med school; Bella shuffling her feet as she found the crack in the cement sidewalk suddenly interesting.

"Listen, Bella," Edward cleared his throat. "I need to say something to you."

Her eyes narrowed as she looked once more at his face. Although his expression seemed resolute, there was another emotion emanating from his eyes. When she realized it was fear and apprehension, she knew about what Edward wanted to talk to her. Subconsciously, she took a step back and shook her head.

"Edward, no. Don't do this."

"Bella, I need to say this."

"_No._ You _don't_."

_My friends think I'm moving on  
But the truth is I'm not that strong  
And nobody knows it but me  
I've kept all the words you've said  
In a box underneath my bed  
And nobody knows it but me_

Despite Bella's tone of warning, he stepped forward and reached for her hand, which she snapped back immediately. "Bella, leaving you in Tahoe was the biggest mistake I ever made. I _loved_ you. I _still_ love you."

Bella's expression turned form horror to anger at his words. She could not believe that this man had the nerve to come to her after _four_ years to declare his love for her. On top of it all, she was happily engaged to a man she could see herself spending the rest of her life with.

Enraged, she stepped closer to Edward and leaned up to be face-to-face to him. "How _dare_ you," she seethed, poking him in his chest. "How dare you tell me this after all these years? Do you know how long I wished you would contact me and tell me you wanted something more than a fling? Do you know how much bullshit Alice and Rose had to deal with? Do you know how long Mike had to wait until I even felt like I could go on a date with him?"

Edward scoffed. "Mike is a jerk."

"You don't even know him!"

"I know he did something to make you leave him and go to a bar."

"You don't know shit, Edward," Bella practically spit. "You don't know me, and you _never_ knew me. Mike and I had a little misunderstanding, and suddenly he's a jerk? He never left me without even a good-bye."

"I was scared."

"You were a coward." Bella took a deep breath as she stepped backwards. "You have no idea how Mike even strived to make up for that night. He may not be perfect, but he loves me. And _I love him_ too."

_But if you're happy  
I'll get through somehow_

_But the truth is  
I've been screaming out…_

Edward felt as if he got slapped in his face. There it was. The phrase that confirmed to him that he lost his chance with Bella. Standing there, staring at the irate woman, Edward could not even fathom why he thought this was a good idea. Fifteen minutes ago, he was so sure that this was what he needed to do.

Now he was 99.9% sure that he fucked up any chance of a relationship he could have with Bella.

The couple stood facing each other, both breathing heavily. One had a look of despair, the other, complete resentment.

"Leave, Edward."

"Bella, I love you. You need to know that."

_I should've been chasing you_

Where just a moment prior, Edward only felt as if he had been slapped in his face, he was now holding his cheek where he had literally been slapped. In shock, he peered down at Bella who was looking up at him with fury. He never would have thought she would physically hurt him. "_Now._"

_You should've been trying to prove_

With shoulders slumped, Edward finally turned to head back to his apartment. But one thought kept nagging him. He needed to know the answer to one question.

_That you were all that mattered to me_

"Bella?" he questioned without turning around.

_You should've said all the things_

Wiping her brow, Bella sighed before answering. "What?"

_That I kept inside of me_

Edward finally turned around to meet Bella's gaze head-on. "If I were to have pursued something more, do you think we would've worked out?"

_And maybe you could've made me believe_

"I don't know," she muttered dejectedly as she rubbed her forehead. "There's nothing we can do about it now."

_That what we had_

As Edward turned to leave once again, Bella stared dismally at his back. Tears stung her eyes as she thought about the answer she gave him. The truth was that she believed that she and Edward could have had a successful relationship. Certainly the attraction was there, but more than that, their personalities had meshed so well.

_What we had_

But what she said was true. It was too late to do anything about it. And now it looked as if any chance at friendship had went up in smoke.

_Oh, that what we had_

Choking back a sob, Bella ran back into her apartment and straight into her bedroom. Kneeling in front of her dresser, she dug through the bottom drawer looking for a particular shirt. When she finally found it, she started to stand to head towards the trash can. Her knees gave out, however, and she found herself back on her knees, sobbing into the shirt and desperately trying to smell the scent that had long left the item of clothing.

_It was all we'd ever need_

"_All We'd Ever Need" – All We'd Ever Need_


End file.
